world. there are plenty of black walls, but no guarantees of safety for those wanting to make them beautiful. news, sports and current affairs - find all of that on the website. it's constantly updated with all the latest. the address aljazeera.com. azeera.com. >> u.s. futures point up add a third start of a day with uncertainty for investors and a big swing in china market offering little relief. >> excuse me, you weren't called, sit down. sit down. sit down. >> donald trump takes on a newsing core over immigration. >> an emotional trial over alleged rape as a prestigious

prep school. >> this is al jazeera america, good morning, live from new york city, i'm randall pinkston. it is poised to be another rocky day on wall street, futures pointing up right now, despite up and down for the asian markets. traded ended down again, even after china cut interest rights in a bid to boost the economy there. tokyo's nikkei saw major rebounds to end a six day losing streak. now the question remains whether americans are still nervous over how china is handling the crisis. mary snow has been talking to traders who are getting frantic calls from investors. >> certainly that nervousness is there. those calls certainly came with speed on monday after that dramatic day on wall street. they tapered off yesterday. i think the bottom line of all

of this is uncertainty, and that uncertainty, of course, stemming from china. the big question that still remains to be seen is how much does this affect the u.s. economy. we've been talking about it now for several days and we really don't have an exact picture. one of the things that is also unsettling i guess the fact that there is not as much transparency as obviously that everybody wants in china and the fear that the economy is worse off than every anticipated. >> they look at these metrics,al go rhythms and start diving in, and human beings don't really have any control over it for a while. >> i'm glad you brought that up. in talking to traders down at the new york stock exchange that is such a big factor in terms of the speed which we saw some of these wild swings contributing to the volatility. traders have been telling people

we were expecting a correction. we hadn't seen a correction in four years which was kind of unheard of and even seeing these market gains in recent months, they were expecting a pull back. they didn't expect what happened monday in terms of the dramatic swings. >> yesterday, we saw the dow rebound, even in the midst of all the continuing uncertainty, how do you explain that. >> one of the big factors in that rebound that i kept hearing over and over again is the fact that china stepped in to cut interest rates. over the weekend, there was disappointment that china didn't do more to help stimulate the economy. however, at the end of the day, when people are looking and seeing all that china is doing to try and stimulate the economy, and again, pumped cash in, about $22 million overnight to try to help the economy, the question is how is it going to affect the global economy.

>> let's talk about consumer confidence here. >> yesterday, consumer confidence showed the biggest gain since january, consumers feeling confident in the labor market, the housing market, of course this was -- the survey was taken before the global market rout, but new home sails for july came out which were strong. june had in the been a strong number. put this in perspective, home sails in july were up 21% from the previous year. the big question is will all of this stall the recovery in the united states and the big question about the federal reserve hanging over all of this and what they will do with interest rates. >> so possibly, people were diving into the housing market in anticipation of rates going up. >> that is a safe assumption, but overall, we have seen growth in the u.s. economy and keep hearing this was not 2008, the fundamentals of this economy are much stronger than they were

when we had the financial crise. >> that is very good news with that thank you. >> the turmoil in china's market has wide $5 trillion out of its economy. there is a concern here in the u.s. especially for the auto industry, china one of the biggest markets for automakers and any economic slowdown could have a major impact on detroit. bisi onile-ere explains. >> market turmoil in china's financial market is having a direct impact on detroit's big three automakers. that's because china is the biggest auto market in the world, and detroit is a big player in the chinese market. john taylor, a business professor at wane state university in detroit says there were signs of an economic slowdown in the world's largest auto market weeks ago. >> everybody knows that no economy just gross constantly without slowdowns or actual declines, and that will be true in china, too. >> general motors sells more

cars in china than in the u.s. g.m. claims 14% of the chinese market, ford is smaller at 4% and fiat chrysler automobiles holds just 1% of the chinese market. after years of steady growth, car sales in china dropped by more than 3% this past june, so even as north american car sales remain strong, professor taylor said as sales continue to fall in china, it will undoubtedly affect the u.s. economy. it has been a growing market for u.s. companies of many times, and that will slow and that will affect those company's profits and their ability to employ people in the u.s., so it's not a positive sign to see the chinese economy slowing. >> a wider chinese slowdown account impact far beyond detroit. >> many companies for many industries have relied on china for their growth. if you look root world markets, the growth has really been in

china the last 10 years, so if as chinese economic growth slows to more normal levels compared to the unsustainable six, seven, eight, 9% of previous years, those companies will, you know, be losing out on some tremendous growth market, and have a ramp up their efforts in other countries, get more american share each other country around the world. >> if the chinese economy does slow significantly, consider makers may be only the first to feel the pain. bisi onile-ere, al jazeera, detroit. >> republica republican presidel candidate donald trump is in the feud with a news anchor when he tried to question trump about

immigration. >> excuse me, you weren't called. sit down. sit down. sit down. go ahead. no, you don't, you haven't been called. >> i have the right. >> go back to univision. go ahead. go ahead. >> you cannot deport 11 million people. >> go ahead. >> you cannot deport. >> go ahead. >> you cannot -- >> sit down, please. you weren't called. >> i'm a reporter and i have the right -- >> go. >> ramos was eventually allowed back into the news conference where the two clashed over the proposal of the candidate to end birth right citizenship and deportation. >> this isn' this is the first e been escorted out of any

interview. >> trump is actually suing the network after they dropped his miss university pageant in response to his remarks against mexican immigrants. >> there are that hint that vice president joe biden may be preparing to run for the nomination. sources close to biden say that the vice president has been asking members of his team to begin contacting donors, activists and organizers in the early caucus and primary states, but biden has repeatedly told his staff he has not yet made a decision about whether to enter the race. >> a former prep school student on trial for rape is expected to take the stand today in his own defense. prosecutors have rested their case against him. he is accused of raping a 15-year-old as part of a ritual at st. francis school called the senior salute. we have a look at how the trial has progressed so far. john. >> this trial started last week

with dramatic tearful testimony from the unidentified young woman who said that he had sexual relations with her against her will. other witnesses gave opposing accounts about what she told them. >> do you see owen in the courtroom today? >> right there. >> from the time the alleged victim took the stand at the rape trial, both sides have worked to answer a key question, did senior owen labri have intercourse with his abuser at all. police detective julie curtain testified that she twice questioned him, once in the police station after his mom repeatedly interrupted a coffee shop meeting with proclamations of her son's in sense. >> it was clear i would not talk to him with her there.

owen said we shouldn't be talking about that subject matter in a coffee shop with employees at the toronto of the shop. i again offered that he could come back to concorde p.d. with us and at that point, he said that he would do that. >> the detective admit that he never admitted to her have gone sex with his accuser during either of their meetings. monday, one classmate testified he believed something happened. >> he told you that he hooked up with her. >> that's correct. >> did he elaborate further? >> no, he did not. >> what did that mean to you? >> it could have meant, again, anything from they kissed to they had sex. >> other classmates testified that he admitted to having sex with the young woman. >> i told them that it probably wasn't a great idea, and i warned them that she was a lot younger than us. >> when we asked, he kind of, you know, said no, but nodded his head yes.

i asked him in a pretty serious manager if he had had sex with her and he proceeded to tell me he did. no. well, he said kind of keep it on the down low is what he said, so i guess, so don't spread that, don't tell people. >> also testified tuesday was a criminal list who said that semen was found on the accuser's underwear but it is not clear if it was from him. skin could have provided other d.n.a. on the skin. >> over the past three days, more than 100 people spoke at james holmes sentencing hearing,

including his mother. many victims spoke about what they lost. >> you can't do anything to alter the fact that our entire family is deproved for the rest of their lives of the joy that i do doreen brought into our lives. >> they call for the maximum sentence for the maximum evil. the judge can decide to add another 3,000 years. >> crews battling a dozen major wildfires in washington state say they are making progress, but resources are stretching thinner by the day. 100 more firefighters have been sent in to help contain the fire, the largest and most devastating in the state, covering almost 260,000-acres. crews are being diverted from california to washington, even though the golden state is also facing a number of growing wildfires. >> with dry air and lightning in the forecast for washington state, crews may have more fires

to deal with. we have this report. >> a dozen wildfires continue to rage across washington state. we're in north central washington, and you can see behind me the charred land, the charred hillside, also the smoke in the area. this area is affected by the complex fire, the state's largest fire on record. it now stands at more than 400 square miles. weather conditions have slightly improved in the last couple of days, but there's no real relief in sight for mother nature. >> there's over a thousand miles of fire line, sized a tremendous effort to contain the fire over that thousand miles. the real change here is that we're getting a little bit of a toe hold because of the break in the weather. if we could get a good rain and that could be hard to get, but there's a chance we'll get some rain sometime in the next 30 days, that would be a dealing changer here. >> no rain and now there's a new

potential hazard, licenning. mother potential lightning storms are forecast for friday. >> the n.r.a. fighting a tax on guns and ammunition, coming up, we'll talk to a former director for the n.r.a. who says the court battle will push guns into

>> welcome to al jazeera america. it is 7:40 eastern time, taking a look at today's top stories.

two nato soldiers were shot in southern afghanistan by gunman wearing the uniforms of afghan security forces. authorities have not released their nationalities so far. other nato troops returned fire, killing the gunmen. >> the pentagon says inspector general is investigating whether the military is misstating the scope of its gains against isil. an independent analyst told authorities he has evidence that u.s. central command was reworking intelligence assessments for policies makers. >> four months after the death of freddie gray sparked unrest in baltimore, maryland has become the first state to enact new regulations intending to cut down on racial profiling by police. the rules limit when police can consider race, ethnicity, region or sexual orientation during interaction with the public. >> officials in seattle are defending a new law, tax on guns and ammunition as the n.r.a.

sues the city over it. the lawsuit challenges the city's right to collect $25 for every firearm sold, plus 5 cents for every round of ammunition. the money would go towards research aimed at reducing gun violence. the lawsuit argues that seattle is violating a washington state law pro venting cities from enacting local firearms regulations. richard feldman joins us, he is a former regional director or the n.r.a. and author of confessions of a gun lobbyist. thank you for joining us. tell us about this lawsuit. it sounds rather different. do you know of any municipalities, states trying this tactic to control the sale of guns? >> at various times, local municipalities have tried to regulate firearm, but if you are in a state like the state of washington that has what's called preemption, which essentially means that the state says that any firearms laws must

be enacted by the state and we do here preempt the field, preventing counties, cities, towns, from writing individual laws about firearms, the law itself is pretty clear, and the city of seattle decided to vital the state law and cause an issue, and that's ok. i'm sure their lawyers will be making lots of money out of this, but the citizens of the city of seattle are going to be paying those lawyers for nonsensical exercise in futility. >> >> the plaintiffs, how unique is it that all three major national proponents of 19 rights have joined together in illegal action? >> it's the second amendment

foundation that represents the industry. it's the first time that all agree groups have joined in a lawsuit like this together, any lawsuit together. >> you would think there would be a unity of ideology and purpose, but apparently, each group has taken its own independent legal actions to protect gun rights. >> sometimes it's primarily gun owners issues, sometimes primarily a firearm industry issue, but in this case, it's both. it affects the gun shops that are located in the city of seattle, and it affects gun owners that wish to purchase firearms and ammunition in seattle. it's not going to change the number of guns or ammo in washington, it just means that seattle residents will go to the suburbs, and buy their

ammunition and guns somewhere else, meaning that the city of seattle will have even less money. >> tell me this. at the core, who does this law, in your opinion affect? who is harmed by the efforts of the seattle city council to try to hold down the sale of weapons, which obviously that is their purpose, they want to make it more difficult for people to obtain guns and ammunition. who is harmed by this law? >> well, only legitimate citizens who are going to go to gun shops to purchase firearms. criminals generally steam the guns that they misuse. they don't pay sales tax or special ammunition tax, because they steal guns, so it certainly isn't going to affect them in the least. this is one of those issues where i think the city of seattle is trying to make a statement. we hear after every tragedy, we

must do something. it's a shame that our elected officials, instead of deciding to do something, don't actually decide to do something relevant to the problem. you know, i think this is why folks like bernie sanders and donald trump are surging in popularity, because they talk the talk of the people, instead of saying we have today something, even if it's meaningless, they talk about doing things that seem to make sense to the american people. seattle should take a clue. >> what should a municipality do? >> municipality should work with the bureau of alcohol, tobacco and firearms, law enforcement and their probation officers in zeroing in on the problem and the problem is always people misusing guns, not the guns, the people who are going to misuse them. if you zero in on the problem,

you'll have the rest of us, gun owners and non-gun owners alike in general agreement. let's go after the people misusing the guns, not the guys who aren't misusing them. >> thank you for joining us. >> a potential baseball hall of fame is on the bench this morning after sharing a meme many say was offensive toward muslims.

>> al jazeera america primetime. get the real news you've been looking for. at 7:00, a thorough wrap-up of the day's events. then at 8:00, john seigenthaler digs deeper into the stories of the day. and at 9:00, get a global perspective. weeknights, on al jazeera america. >> a federal judge temporarily blocked the state of mississippi from carrying executions. three inmates are suing the state saying the drugs amount to cruel and unusual punishment. in june, the supreme court

upheld the use of one of the drugs in executions, but mississippi department of corrections say it will appeal the decision. >> former major league pitcher curt schilling is apologizing for sending out a tweet that many found offensive. it contained this meme, comparing muslims to in hisi era germans tweeting the math is staggering when you get to true numbers. espn has suspended him from little league world series broadcasts, the network saying it may take further action. he says he accepts his suspension, saying bad choices have bad consequences. >> on the tech beat, uber helping to develop new technology that could be used in driverless cars. the company is partnering with the university of arizona to develop special matching technology, test vehicles will be outfitted with rooftop mapping devices, uber has a similar partnership.

else can. this is our american story. this is america tonight.

>> more turmoil on the global stack markets. the main chinese exchange falls again after another rocky day on wall street. >> sit down, you weren't called, sit down. sit down. >> donald trump gets into a heated exchange with another news anchor, this time over immigration. plus an apology for a group of women kicked off a train in california. they say it happened because of their race.

>> good morning. this is aljazeera america. live from new york city, i'm stephanie sy. whiplash on wall street as china's stock market takes another tumble. u.s. futures are pointing up, buttized poised to be another rocky day for traders. the shanghai traded down again even after nine chai cut interest rates. tokyo's make kay saw major rebounds to end a six day losing streak. mary snow joins us. what can we expect from the markets here today? >> you just said the word whiplash. i think that's perhaps what we can expect. all three major indexes right now are poised to hope perhaps at much as 2%, but once again, volatility, and that has been the key word. bottom line is, it's just a lot of confusion and lack of

conviction. the big question is how much will china's slow down affect global growth and that remains to be seen and causing so much uncertainty. >> you spoke to traders on the stock exchange yesterday. do they feel nervous about wall street's rebound and whether it will continue to face volatility in days to come. >> you hear that calendar street hates with a passion uncertainty. that is certainly a given. are they so nervous about a market rebound? not really, because they have been waiting for a correction. they said it's been long overdue. we haven't seen a correction in four years and markets have been gaining, but they are certainly nervous about what this all means and one of the big areas of concern having to do with the economy is u.s. corporations that have global exposure, china has been such a major driver of growth, this is the world's second largest economy, how does it affect those companies, their profits and overall the economy.

because those are the companies hiring. that is one of the key pieces to this puzzle. >> consumer confidence, however, those numbers came out yesterday. what do they say and will that end up bolstering the market today? >> consumer confidence speaks for the thing that we've been talking about in terms of the u.s. economy. it's been showing signs of growth, consumer confidence yesterday showed that consumers were more confident for the most time in five months. >> those numbers were before the crash in shanghai. >> correct, so it does put a dent in all that. >> patrick newport is an economist and joins us from massachusetts. good morning. at what point would you expect the volatility in the financial markets to affect consumer confidence? >> consumer confidence reacts right away to just anything, high gasoline prices, low gasoline prices, stock market

volatility. >> low gas prices, right? >> the key is what happens to consumer spending and there's not much of a link to consumer confidence and consumer spending. i think consumer spending is pretty robust right now and we don't think there's good reason to expect it to slow anytime soon. >> what concerns do you have with when it come comes to the l effects on the financial markets volatility. >> what concerns is us the slow down in world growth that has the potential of cutting growth by a few 10th of a percent, not a lot, because we only export 12% of g.d.p. we're not that dependent on foreign trade, but it will have some impact on growth for the next couple of years. >> if the other indicators in the u.s., jobs, wage growth, housing, there was a positive housing report yesterday, if

they continue to move in the right direction, how much will a slowdown in china's economy impact the u.s. you heard about mary talk about some of the companies that are obviously invested in china, but on a whole, could a slowdown in china lead to a recession here? >> it will not lead to a recession here. what it will do is save g.d.p. growth by a few 10th of a percentage point. imports and exports are not that big a part of the u.s. national pie, so we've had the greek crise which did minimal impact to growth. i think we should expect the same from what's happening right now in china. >> patrick newport, thank you for joining us this morning. >> thank you. >> republican presidential candidate donald trump is defendling his action at a news

conference in iowa. it has launched a feud this time with an anchor influential with hispanic voters. >> you weren't called on. sit down, sit down. >> the exchange between donald trump and univision jorge ramos happened in iowa. trump didn't want to answer him. >> you haven't been called. go back to you be any vision. >> ramos was escorted out of the room. when he was later allowed back in, the two clashed over trump's proposal to end birth right citizenship and deport millions of undocumented migrants. ramos called what happened unprecedented. >> this is the first time i have ever been escorted out of any press conference or any interview. >> unicushion c.e.o. invited trump for an in depth interview with ramos to talk about his

immigration proposal. there is a deeper history. trump is suing univision after it dropped the miss universe pageant. this isn't the first time trump sparred with the media. the head of fox news demanded he apologized for his repeated attacks on anchor including this tweet: >> ramos says he never expected to be forced to leave the room. he says it's his job to ask tough questions and that's all he says he right to do. one of trumps main immigration proposals is to build a wall across the border with mexico, which he said mexico should pay for. paul beban went to the border to show why that is much easier said than done. >> you can see this fence is made out of steel and concrete. it's very tall. it looks i am penetrable, but people go under it, tunnel under

it and climb over it. when i was here last year covering another series of border stories, we saw two young men go over this fence and back again in seconds. we assumed they were drug smugglers, they were wearing backpacks. we happened to catch it on camera. take a look. donald trump says he's going to stop young men like those and everybody else trying to crosby replacing this fence with a call fro runs from coast-to-coast from the pacific ocean to the gulf of mexico along 2,000 miles of border. the question is of course, is is that practical. is it even physically possible. we're going to take a look at the facts on the ground and the fence. we'll have that story tonight. >> you can watch the full report tonight at 8:00 eastern. >> two nato soldiers were shot to death in afghanistan. authorities have not released their nationalities. nato said the gunmen were

wearing uniforms of the afghan security forces. other nato troops returned fire and killed the gunmen. new group has claimed responsibility. >> the pentagon's inspector general is investigating if the military has overstated gains against isil. the probe started after an independent analyst accused central command of reworking intelligence assessments for policy makers. he says the military brass has been portraying them too optimistically. >> the man who has the strongest shia force fighting isil told al jazeera the u.s. is trying to further divide the nation. zeina hodor reports from baghdad. >> u.s. military advisors in iraq have been training and equipping sunni tribesman in anbar as part of their strategy to defeat isil. hundreds of them are already on the front lines. the obama administration believes there role will be crucial to recapture the mainly

sunni region. the program is backed by the iraqi government. there are powerful voices who are raising questions. a top commander of the popular mobilization forces, which groups shia paramilitary forces that have largely replaced the iraqi army on the ground. >> if the americans are concerned about the sunnis, then they should not vital iraq's sovereignty. they should give the government the capability to train them. america is creating a sunni force. this is not charity work, but a plan to divide iraq. >> he heads the organization, the military wing of the supreme slack iraq council which has a strong parliamentary presence. he doesn't hide his good relations with iran. sunni politicians fear they are growing in strength at the expense of the state. the u.n. training program is a

step in the right direction to create the so-called national guard. >> there has been a good start. the u.s. trained 7,000 sunnis in anbar, but still didn't give them proper weapons. these men are under the control of the defense ministry, but we hope that one day parliament will approve the national guard project and each province will have its own force from its own people. >> the people in anbar have a long history of animosity with the shia led government in baghdad. it seems there are efforts to prevent the popular mobilization forces from taking part in the planned offensive against isil in ramadi. he denies the government agreed with the u.s. to stop his forces but said without them, the battle can't be won. >> the battle in ramadi is in its sixth week and if there was cooperation between the army and popular mobilization forces, chiefs and tribes, it would be easily won. >> he has long dismissed the

u.s.'s role in fighting isil in iraq, but now is openly criticizing an integral part of u.s. strategy. al jazeera, baghdad. >> egyptian president al sisi is in moscow today meeting with russian president vladimir putin, a sign the neighs are deepening ties. economics and trade are big topics for these two nations. what will the leaders be discussing specifically today? >> you're right, economics and trade are both big topics for these two leaders to be talking about. there is a bigger one, though, and that is security in the middle east. it's what both of these leaders trails this meeting as before they went into it. both of them are looking for cooperation from the other, so russia is looking for cooperation in helping its ally, president assad in syria, and bringing assad into the international coalition against

isil. egypt wants russia's help in the sinai peninsula after they've dealt with those issues, they'll move on to economics and trade. >> how does this fit into russia's plan to increase is sphere of influence? >> well, i mean, i think maybe there's another way of looking at it, russia is trying to mid gate against a severe loss in its sphere of influence. in over the last year, it's lost pretty much all of ukraine to the west. the consequence of that has been that europe has largely turned against russia, as well. it did have a lot of friends in europe. those friends are no longer nearly so vocal. egypt used to be big allies, then turned against russia and went towards washington instead. what russia is trying to do at the moment is try to regain some

of the influence it's lost over the last few years and last few decades on the world stage. >> rory challands for us in motte co. >> moore firefighters have been sent into washington state. crews are being diverted from california, even though the golden state faces a growing number of wildfires. with dry air and lightning in the forecast, crews may have more fires to deal with. we have this report from washington. >> a zeb wildfires continue to rage across washington state. we're between the towns in north central washington, and you can see behind me, the charred land, the charred hillside, also the smoke in the area. this area is affected by the

state's largest fire on record that now stands at more than 400 square miles. weather conditions have slightly improved in the last couple of days, but there's no real relief in sight for mother nature. >> there's over a thousand miles of fire line, so it's a tremendous effort to cable the fire over that thousand miles. the real change here is that we're getting a little bit of a toe hold because of the break in the weather. if we can get a good rain, and that could be hard to get, but there's a chance we'll get some rain sometime in the next 30 days. that would be a deal changer here. >> no rain and now there's a new potential hazard, lightning. it caused the fire in this area and more potential lightning storms are forecasted through friday. >> on the agenda today an autopsy will be performed on justin wilson. he died monday from severe injuries suffered during a crash at an indy car race. >> james holmes will be sentenced to life in prison for

killing 12 people at a denver movie theater. there were three days of witness testimony from victims' families. >> more police on hand today in west virginia where a 14-year-old boy held 29 students and a teacher hostage at gunpoint yesterday. the teacher kept the gunman calm. police stopped him and no one was hurt. >> getting ready to testify, a former prep school student accused of raping a freshman is set to take the stand in his own defense. >> the new new orleans, why 10 years after the city's worst natural disaster, young folks are seeing a bright opportunity opinion opin rebuild its city. >> we gonna bring this city back one note at a time. >> and overcome hard times in the big easy. >> we are bigger, we're better, we're stronger.

>> welcome to al jazeera america. taking a look at today's top stories, more support in congress for the nuclear deal with iran. washington senator patty murray

is the 29th democratic to endorse the agreement. so far, only two democrats opposed the deal. many high profile iranians launched a video campaign urging congress to support the deal. >> planned parent hood is asking a federal court to block a louisiana measure ending funding for the group. the law was put in place after the release of secretly recorded video showing how the group handles aborted fetuses. >> more honors for one of the three americans who subdued a terrorist on a french train, getting the soldier's medal. he along with his friends were also awarded the legion of honor in france. the suspect now faces a charge of attempted murder of a terrorist nature. >> a former prep school student on trial for rape is expected to take the stand today in his own defense. prosecutors rested their case against him. he is accused of raping a 15-year-old as part of a ritual at st. france school called the

senior salute. excuse me, st. paul school. we have a look at how this trial has progressed so far. good morning. >> good morning, stephanie, this trial started last week with dramatic tearful testimony with the young woman who said that he had sexual relations with her against her will. other witnesses have given opposing accounts about what he told them. >> do you see owen in the courtroom today? >> yes, i do. >> from the time the alleged victim took the stand at the start of the new hampshire prep school rape trial, both sides worked to answer a key question, did the senior have intercourse with his accuser at all. police detective julie curtain testified that she twice questioned him, once in the police station after his mom repeatedly interrupted a coffee shop meeting with proclamations

of her son's innocence. it was clear a conversation with him was not going to be conducive with his mom being there. he further said we should not be having a conversation of that matter in a coffee shop and offered to come back to the p.d. with us. >> he never admitted to her having sex with his accuser during either of their meetings. on monday, however, one classmate testified he believed something happened. >> he told you that he hooked up with her. >> that's correct. >> did he elaborate further? >> no, he did not. >> what did that mean to you? >> it could have meant, again, anything from they kissed to they had sex. >> other classmates testified that he admitted to having sex with the young woman. >> i told them that it probably

wasn't a great idea, and i warned him that she was a lot younger than us. >> when we asked, he kind of, you know, said no, but nodded his head yes. i asked him in a pretty serious manager if he had had sex with her and he proceeded to tell me he did. no. well, he said kind of keep it on the down low is what he said, so i guess, so don't spread that, don't tell people. >> also testifying tuesday was a criminalist who said that semen was found on the accuser's underwear but it is not clear if it was from him. only skin cell debris was found on the rest of the accuser's body. >> all this week, we have been looking back at the impact of hurricane katrina, 10 years after it slammed into the gulf coast. right now, there's a new trend, younger people moving into town.

in the ruins of america's worst natural disaster, they see opportunity. as jonathan betz reports, that's not trickling down to everybody. >> for generations, henry i am manual's family called new orleans home. she can't help but notice how different the city and its people look. >> this city will be chocolate at the end of the day. >> i think the issue that is near and dear to my heart is to make sure those individuals who were naturally born new orleans, they don't feel this new new orleans is moving forward with no place for them in the city. >> it is still mostly black, but 37% used to be african-american, and it's dropped to 58%. the percentage of whites has

grown. >> for the first time, we have young people coming here. many are white, and so both have the feeling it's a whiter city. >> a new younger creative class is emerging, some drawn by adventure, others attract by opportunity. lauren arrived to sell tee shirts from her living room. it quickly drew into to your stores. >> in los angeles you have to be beautiful, new york, smart and successful. in new orleans, you get to be you. that's what i love about being here. >> lured by tax credits and thriving culture, people are all color are coming for opportunities hard to find anybody else else. >> i thought there was a closed in store network that was scared of change. now it is open to new people, new ideas, and really soaring sense of possibility. >> people like patrick who proofed from new york and started a digital company. >> how many times does one of

the most important cities in america go through a complete renewal and you're invited to participate in that process? that's a once in a generation opportunity. >> many worry that change is keeping others out. >> new orleans now is a lot more affluent than it was prior to the storm. disproportionately, you have blacks that cannot come back because of the economic situation here. >> there are still as many people living in poverty and many african-americans prefer to move instead to the suburbs. >> pro proceduressately, the poor have returned. >> that is another assumption that the rich could only return to rebuild. >> i'm saying there were a lot of people who chose not to return. >> it did not matter how much money you had. >> that's right. a lot of people may have had the means to return, and chose not to. >> for henrietta, there wasn't any other choice. she had to be home. >> i'm just hoping and praying

that a lot of other people come back, too. >> until then, as new orleans changes, many worry how to keep the spirit the same, even if the city looks different. jonathan betz, al jazeera, new orleans. >> hurricane katrina impacted so much, including the regions fishing industry, especially for shrimpers who rely on the gulf for their livelihood. >> we're on one of louisiana's coastal water ways doing shrimping with joe. i met joe 10 years ago, just a week after katrina hit this coast. i remember your industry was just hammered. what was it like after the storm? >> it was bad right after, real bad. most of the debris in the water, it was all over. we had shrump, but we don't have reefs no more. where we had islands, they weren't there no more.

a big change quick overnight. >> how is the business right now? >> right now, it's bad for the fisherman. there's no price right now. then, if they agree to that pacific trade deal, vietnam's going to come into the fishing. vietnam is the biggest exporter of shrimp in the world, bar none, they're the biggest, and they're going to be shipping direct over here. >> this industry that's under considerable pressure right now, katrina, the b.p. oil spill, imports from overseas, high price of doing business. it's tough out here for shrimpers. we'll have more tonight. >> you can see the full report at 8:00 eastern. >> another run for the white house, vice president joe biden puts the pieces in place to launch a presidential campaign. >> the racial gap when it comes to discipline in schools. some districts are suspending more than half of their black

students.

>> welcome to al jazeera america. it is 8:30 eastern, taking a look at today's top stories. >> it could be another rough day on wall street, u.s. futures are pointing up right now after the dow closed down 205 points yesterday. the shanghai closed down again. tokes nikkei found major rubs to end a six day losing streak. >> more firefighters have joined the front lines of a fire in washington state that covers 260,000-acres. after 11 days of battling the fire, it is only 10% contained.

>> republican presidential candidate donald trump is in the middle of a new media feud with a popular univision anchor. jorge ramos was escorted out last night. seconds before, they can into a shouting match when he tried to question trump about immigration. he was eventually let back in to that news conference. >> a new face may jump in to view for the presidential nomination. >> sources close to vice president joe biden tell al jazeera he has now encouraged his top political supporters and advisors to begin building a presidential campaign. the outreach to donors and organizers is the latest indication while biden has not made a formal decision, many of his own staff and backers believe he will join the race. bernie sanders said the vice president will be a strong and

compelling democratic rival. >> i have known joe biden for many years, we served in the senate together for six years and you're not going to find a guy who is more decent than joe biden is. >> presidential spokesman josh earnest praised bides experience and political judgment. >> the president has indicated his view that the decision that he made seven years ago now to add joe biden to the ticket as his running mate was the smartest decision that he'd ever made in politics. >> white house officials confirm that the president himself at a private lunch this week with biden encouraged the vice president to get into the race. the focus on biden and the white house encouragement comes as front runner hillary clinton continues to deal with questions over her private email system as secretary of state. >> did you wipe the server? >> like with a cloth or something, no. >> now with the f.b.i. investigating, clinton's actions, her approval numbers

continue to drop. a poll suggest that 46% have all americans and 25% of all democrats think clinton should suspend her campaign until the f.b.i. investigation is over. several democratic strategists believe a biden candidacy could siphon support away from clinton and there be help sanders. the senator is already leading in new hampshire. >> the evidence is clear. we are gaining. i think the polls indicate -- we've got a long way to go. joe would be a formidable opponent. i'm not sure who politically it would help. >> organizing a presidential campaign and attracting donors can take time, and for all of biden's authenticity like when health care became law. [bleep]

>> the vice president is also known for gaffes. >> i promise you the president has a big stick. >> mr. vice president, come have a frank word. >> biden and supporters believe the stars may be aligning for him. while a spokesman stresses the vice president has not made a decision and may not decide until the first democratic debate in october, his team is taking shape and preparation for him to run. david shuster, al jazeera. >> a federal judge has temporarily blocked the state of mississippi from carrying out executions. three inmates are suing the state. they say its cocktail of lethal drugs amount to cruel and unusual punishment. in june, the supreme court upheld the use of one of those drugs in executions. the mississippi department of corrections says it will appeal the decision. more reaction today to a new study that finds a huge racial disparity in student discipline. it looks at 13 southern states where black students are

suspended and expelled at much higher rates than white students and one of those states is the accident. heidi zhou castro has details. >> in mckinney texas where a white police officer threw an unarmed black teenage girl to the ground at a pool party this summer, the advocacy group found the rate at which black students are arrested and suspended at the city's school district is more than double their portion of the student population. >> the disparities are concerning, but even for internal school discipline, suspension and expulsion, we know that suspension and expulsion are linked to poor student outcomes and higher rates of contact with the juvenile justice system. >> the school district spokesman told al jazeera that the rate of suspension for black students does not demonstrate racial bias, but the officials said the strict will continue to monitor its school climate. the issue is widespread.

a study "the university of pennsylvania found that school districts in 13 southern states are suspending or expelling black students from public schools at rates overwhelmingly higher than white students. the southern poverty law center is fighting the trend in louisiana. that state is tied with mississippi for expelling the highest proportion of blacks. >> one of the kids in our complaint was arrested and charged with simple battery for throwing a ask ile on a school bus at another child. that kid was arrested out of class during a social studies test and ended up spending six days in detention, all for throwing a ask ile on a school bus. >> civil rights and advocacy groups are challenging school districts across the country to find alternatives for conflicts. the white house has called for a reduction in the number of students expelled. >> distorted justice is being used where someone comes in and

mediates disputes. >> in other words, resolving problems in school without police involvement and without taking kids out of class. >> we want students to have good outcomes, and schools are meant to help students achieve actions to opportunity, in our society. our school system, our public school system was created with the idea that it would be the great equalizer and if instead we are seeing that it is restricting access to opportunities particularly for african-american students, that's something we really need to address. >> heidi zhou castro, al jazeera, dallas. >> one of the co authors of the report sean harper joins us from philadelphia this morning, the executive director of the center for the study of repairs and equity in education at university of pennsylvania. good morning, thank you be for being with us. >> help us interpret your report. why did you look at these 13

states and what do they have in common expelling black students. >> 1.2 million black students were suspended from public schools in a single academic school year in these states. 55% of those suspensions happened in schools located across these 13 southern states. now as a georgia native and as someone who went to public school and was suspended for reasons i can't even remember because they were so trivial, this is especially and personally alarming to me. >> was it surprising to you? a lot of the debates we've had about racial tensions, about the confederate flag have been happening in those deep south jim crow states. >> sure. so on the one hand, you know,

our numbers were not surprising, because they built on, you know, years and years of very good research and advocacy efforts happening all across the nation and especially in the south, so, you know, people have had some sense that this was a problem. however, what our study does is that it offers a district by district presentation of the school suspension in equities. in other words, we quantityify for people what they've long had a general sense about, but we provide the data for them in ways that localize the problem, and really shows, you know, how particular it is to their local contact, their state contacts and southern regional contact. >> i want to step back from the numbers, sean, for you just to give your interpretation of these numbers. is the assumption in the report first of all that these suspensions are often unfair, that they are the kid throwing a ask ile on a bus?

>> they are terribly unfair, the research is very clear on this, that black students tend to be targeted and suspended at disproportionately higher rates for reasons that are incredibly suggestive, like the kid was rude, or giving me attitude, or, you know, the kid, you know, perhaps was loitering in the hall, where as the research show that is white students tend to get away with those things and not be referred to principal's offices for disciplinary action. instead, they tend to get referred to principal's offices for things that are considerably less objective like skipping school for smoking or property destruction and vandalism.

there are things in the report linked to the ways we have been socialized to think about black people as criminals and as deviate. i think that teachers perhaps sometimes unknowingly go into schools and into classrooms having been socialized to think about young, black people in these deeply criminalized ways, so therefore, you know, a kid does anything, right, and there's this sort of hyper response to get the kid out, because this kid is a problem, like so many other black people are thought to be problems in our nation and in the southern contact. >> you personally had been suspended. you can't really remember why. you wouldn't be the only one that's been, there's a lot of kids suspended all the time. how do you think this ends up impacting african-american kids in this country long term. >> one of the things that my co author and i make clear in our report and it's been made repeatedly clear in other

publications is that school discipline policies and practices play a major role in putting black children disproportionately on pathways to prison, so the whole notion of the school to prison pipeline we believe is very real. you know, when one is suspended or even worse, expelled from schools, there's a stigma that comes along with that, right, when one reenters an educational environment, you know, that person is thought to be a problem. that person is thought to be, you know, not serious, so on and so fort and additionally, taking kids out of schools is not a way to effectively educate them. they get further and further behind. their white peers and their peers from other racial groups, when they are not in school, so we think this is a serious problem that, you know, has long term consequences for college access and college enrollment

for employment in black students and certainly for -- >> what are some of the other recommendations that you have to address this issue? >> we offer in the report the recommendation to do away with zero tolerance policies and practices that repeatedly kick kids out of school for fairly insignificant non-violent reasons. we called for school district leaders across the country to invest more into professional development for teachers and for leaders in the district to raise their consciousness about the pervasiveness of this issue. we also called for schools of education in places that prepare teachers to do a better job of teaching about implicit bias so fewer administrators going into the schools with deeply racist notions about moo black kids are

that ultimately play themselves out in the way they handle disciplinary actions. >> sean harper, an important conversation, joining us from philadelphia this morning, thank you. >> four months after the death of freddie gray sparked unrest in baltimore, maryland has become the first state to enact new regulations meant to cut down on racial profiling by police. the rulings when police can consider race, ethnicity, region or sexual orientation during interaction with the public. >> earlier this year, a group riding a napa valley wine train was told to quiet down. she thinks it's because she and her friends are hispanic. it's the latest accusation against the popular tourist

destination. >> the napa valley wine train said it was wrong that when it kicked a book club of mostly african-american women off the train. police escorted the 11 women off the train. the group said it was humiliating. >> at no time were we loud with them. we were asking questions, but at no time were we loud with them or inappropriate with them. >> they may have led it go if it weren't for the companies initial social media response, a facebook message that was later deleted read in part following verbal and physical abuse towards other guests and staff, it was necessary to get our police involved. >> that is absolutely untrue. we never touched anybody. >> a company spokesman said the post was clearly a mistake. >> the bad thing about social media is that people want to respond right away, and many times, thoughtfulness is actually more important than speed. >> we made it y'all, look at us, we're ready to get on the wine train. >> the incident caused a stir on

social media with the hash tag laughing while black going viral. a reporter who happened to be on the train sitting six seats from the group told us the women were just having a good time. >> they were definitely loud, but they were not drunk. you know, they were loud from the moment they got on the train, they were just happy. >> she says the women should not have been kidding off the train. >> it's not a movie theater. it's not a library. it is basically a wine bar, and people are there to drink wine and take in the scenery, and have a conversation. >> the c.e.o. of the company has since apologized to the group, contacting one of them by phone and writing a letter that reads we accept full responsibility for our failures and entire chain of unfortunate events you experienced. >> the c.e.o. said he will offer diversity training to employees and invited the group to come back with dozens of others to have their own private car for free. >> have they said whether or not they will accept that offer, these women? >> they haven't yet.

>> ok, thank you. >> former major league pitcher curt schilling is apologizing for sending out a tweet many offend offensive, containing this mohamed morsi eme with a tweet reading the math is staggering when you get to the true numbers. the tweet was deleted after 10 minutes. espn suspended him from little league world series brought casts. schilling said he accepts his suspension saying bad choices have bad consequences. >> on the tech beat, uber helping to develop new technology that could be used in driverless cars. the company is partnering with the university of arizona to develop special mapping technology. test vehicles will be outfitted with roof top mapping devices. uber has a similar partnership with carnegie melon university. >> seeing more sharks off the california coast. it provides a new opportunity to

study the animals and help protect them. >> fish oil or snake oil? a popular supplement may not be as beneficial as you think.

>> elderly american's addicted to painkillers prescribed by

>> welcome to al jazeera america. taking a look at today's top stories. the state department says anywhere from 5,000 to 8,000 syrian refugees will be accepted. the u.s. has contributed $4 billion in humanitarian aid for reef gees, but it has taken in fewer than 1,000 syrians. >> new legal trouble for ashley madison. class action lawsuits are being launched against the website, saying they failed to keep their data private, especially for

users who paid a fee to have their profiles deleted. >> a san francisco judge may rule whether an undocumented migrant may stand trial for murder. juan sanchez is accused of shooting a woman last month. >> on the healthbeat this morning, you might want to think twice before taking omega three fish oil suppplements. a new study said it does not improve your memory. it says they did not slow mental decline among 4,000 participants, researchers said it's better to eat foods high in the fatty acids. >> there are high concentrations of mercury in small fish along

the colorado river. the data showed it would be unsafe for humans to eat. mercury can have adverse effects on the central nervous system. >> wildlife experts say a shark recovery is good for the environment. >> southern california surfer kelly french may not be the best guy to get in the water with. >> his fin comes out of the water around it's headed straight at me. >> a great white shark encounter, not one, but three times. >> it just dawned on me all of a sudden, oh, my gosh, it's fluffy, he's here. >> the shark's name is fluffy? >> yeah, we have a lot of juvenile sharks here in southern california, and the kind of term that we've contained for them is fluffy. right as he got about parallel

with me in the water, i realized oh my gosh, it's a big shark. he basically broadsided me on my surfboard and knocked me sideways a couple of feet. >> what are you thinking now? >> i'm just holding on for dear life. >> while most never tangle with a great white, swimmers and surfers are seeing them more often, reading to warning signs on the beaches. >> a surfer mauled by a great white shark. >> going to go out in other boat and meet the life guards. >> for this marine biologist, the summer of the shark is a great conservation story. >> i'm excited. here is a population of animals negatively impacted by people due to fishing, loss of food or habitat for over 100 years. i like at the recovery of white sharks at a sign that we've done

some amazing things in bringing our ocean health back. >> we met lowe on a recent sunny southern california morning and headed out to sea with a team of researchers from the shark lab at california state university long beach. these coastal waters are known as a nursery for young sharks. here they learn to hunter and feed, and on any given day, it is estimated there could be hundreds swimming just below the surface. normally once they mature and the water temperature drops in the winter, they leave and head saw the to mexico but over the last few years, they decided to stay. scientists want to know if warmer ocean temperatures are one of the reasons. the only way to do that, can go juvenile great whites to learn more about their movements. off the coast of sunset beach, local life guards assist in the water, while the huntington beach police department help spot sharks from the sky. >> we've just met up with the two life guards on the jet skis, they will take the researcher

into the water to try and tag the shark. they've had one siting this morning about a six-foot long shark. yesterday, they saw seven. >> graduate students slip into the water side by side with the ocean's apex predator to place small electronic tags on six juveniles. >> a lot of people see these sharks and they think that's a killer. you see these sharks and what do you think? >> that's a baby. that's a cute little baby. >> but it's still a killer, no? >> if you're a stingray, sure, i would be scared if i was a stingray, but for the most part, these little slashes are naive. they don't know what to do. >> you expect as the shark population goes up, the number of sitings will increase. what we are not seeing are people being bitten by sharks. it's not increasing at that same rate, which tells us sharks aren't out to bite people. we hope the more we learn and

share with the public, the less afraid people will be. >> in fact, the odds of being attacked by a shark are exceedingly low. you're more than 3 million times as likely to die in a car crash. as for the surfer we met earlier. >> kelly, you had two shark encounters, you've had one shark attack. i'm sitting here thinking i don't really want to go in the water with you. you seem kind of look an unlucky guy. >> i'll be honest with you everrive, i've had people say that to me a lot. i think i am the best person you would ever wanting to surfing with. >> why? >> because i've been attacked and having had two shark encounters and one shark attack statistically, you'd probably be safer with me surfing than anybody else in the water, because i've had those encounters and it would just astronomical for me to have another shark encounter or attack. >> you think you are probably one of the safest guys to be in

the water. >> absolutely. let's go surfing! >> jennifer london, al jazeera, laguna beach, california. >> notice she doesn't go surfing with him. >> jet blue wants kids love of'ding to take off. the airline installed three vending machines that dispense free backs for kids in the southeast part of washington, d.c. they've given away 16,000 books. a recent study commissioned by the airline found one age appropriate book for sale in that area for every 800 children. literacy experts say owning books can inspire children to read more. >> a restaurant called the home of marriotty turns 90 this year and the music is showing no signs of stopping. the city has been drawing crowds since 1925 when the founder brought th the mar i don't havey tradition.

thanks for watching, have a great morning.

>> hello from doha. this is the news hour on al jazeera. tear gas and barbed wire, scenes in hungary at a reception center for refugees. >> african leaders gather as hopes rise for a peace deal in south sudan two end civil war. >> making concrete beautiful and spreading a message of hope. >> with the sport, the reputation of kenyan athletics is once again called into question with twoun