commonplace, despite efforts to ban the trade, there's little to stop the elephants disappearing in a few decades. there's more real news from al jazeera along with video and analysis. comment to on the website aljazeera.com. >> republican contenders pile on the insults against donald trump, but this morning, the gop front runner is not the candidate talked about the most. >> general motors reaches a settlement over the ignition switch problem blamed for the deaths of dozens. >> russia of its the united states to meetings to discuss syria. the u.s. concedes its plans to train syrian fighters to fight isil is not achieving its goals.

>> this is aljazeera america, good morning. live from new york city, i'm randall pinkston. the picture this morning may be a bit clearer when it comes to the crowd of republican candidates running for president. they had a lengthy debate with the clear target being the front runner donald trump. >> you ran up mountains of debt, as well as losses using other people's money and you were forced to file for bankruptcy not once, not twice, four times, a record four times. why should we trust you to manage the finances of this nation? >> i'm very concerned about having him in charge of the nuke weapons, because i think his response, his visceral response to attack people on their appearance, short, tall, fat, ugly, my goodness. that happened in junior high. >> the candidates touched on

several issues, including immigration, iran, planned parenthood and of course the political legacy of ronald reagan, his presidential library was the backdrop of the debate. like the debate, there was a warmup before the main event. >> the first, the kiddy table they called it, four participant, licensed graham, rick santorum, bobby jindal and george pataki went at each other and at damaged trump who wasn't part of it. i asked bobby jindal about his tactics. >> the strategy is to tell the american people the truth. at least democrats are honest. they pushed and did everything they could to get obamacare done. they'll break the law, break the constitution to expand socialism. >> carly fiorina having moved up from the second tier on to the

main stage, it became about going off the damaged trump. then they eased into issues. >> we do have to recognize that as americans, democrats and republicans, we have a lot more in common with each other than we do the things that separate us and we need to concentrate on those things. >> a lot of candidates people thought would be ahead of the pack haven't been. one is scott walker. i asked the governor about shaking up his campaign. >> you saw we were more aggressive, a lot of people set up for the first debate we were solid, but not aggressive, we were aggressive off the bat. we laid the contrast out there. i don't think americans need another apprentice in the white house. >> there was also some levity after the issues were discussed. jake tapper asked each candidate who they would put on the $10

bill should alexander hamilton be replaced. mike huckabee said his wife, janet. >> it's kind of him to say that and i was totally surprised he thought that fast, but with he know that's not going the to happen. >> it's a very long debate and campaign season. there's plenty more to come. michael shure, al jazeera, california. >> the big question this morning who was the clear winner and did republicans make a dent in donald trump's lead. david shuster is here with us this morning. it is clear that trump was the target. >> not just from the moderators but from four or five candidates. rand paul called him sophomoric, carly fiorina called him an entertainer and jeb bush had skirmishes. they argued about the comments about jeb bush's wife and his former president george w. bush. they tangled over donald trump's ties to democrats.

watch. >> you said on one of the talk shows you got hillary clinton to go to your we hadding. >> that's true. >> because you gave her money. make it works for hillary clinton, it doesn't work for anybody on the stage. >> i was a businessman, i got along with clinton, i got along with everybody. that was my job, i got along with everybody, excuse me one second. >> no. >> more energy tonight, i like that. >> look, i was asked a question. >> that was symbolic of most of the debate, donald trump getting a shot in at whoever was trying to attack him. pundits are giving high marks to carly fiorina. what did she do to breakthrough. >> she had the applause of the night when she talked plant parenthood selling body parts of fetuses. a couple weeks ago, donald trump told rolling stone carly fiorina could never be elected because of that face. trump said no, i was talking about her persona.

carly fiorina asked for her reaction. >> it's interesting to me, mr. trump said that he heard mr. bush very clearly in what mr. bush said. i think women all over this country heard very clearly what mr. trump said. [ applause ] >> trump went on to say that i love carly fiorina's looks and her face, and so he was trying to be out of his way, trying to be complimentary, but it was clearly, clearly an awkward moment for him. >> he was dialing back. >> so the national polls still put chris christie and marco rubio way behind trump and the front runners. how do you rate their performance. >> chris christie had a moment last night when donald trump and carly fiorina were arguing over their past and business record, chris christie said look, you both are successful, but we need to talk about the people that will be impacted by politics, not your business records, the working class and people suffering. chris christie was strong, confident and seemed to appeal the most to middle class working

class voters. for marco rubio, he followed the same strategy that we saw from him in the first debate and that is marco rubio is letting others tangle with donald trump and get in the mud. rubio wants to promote his over gravitas by seeming presidential and clearly had moments last night whether talking about iran or talking about his own sort of background, he certainly seemed presidential and that was what marco rubio was aiming for. >> thank you, david shuster. >> presidential hopeful bobby jindal lost in his effort to block common core educational standards. jindal argued that federal officials penalized states that do not accept the curriculum. a federal judge rejected those claims, saying several states have already dropped the standards without repercussions. >> after shocks are rattling nerves in chile hours after a powerful and deadly earthquake. the quake with the magnitude 8.3

hit off the coast of northern chile last night. at least five people were killed. the quake caused homes to collapse, small tsunami waves flooded some shore towns. more than 1 million people heeded warnings and fled to higher ground. some of those waves are expected to hit hawaii and california within the next few hours. meteorologist nicole mitchell is here. just how bad will it be? >> certainly for portions of chile, the tsunami portion of this was very bad in addition to the earthquake itself. energy, the wave energy takes time to move across the ocean, so for california, it would be within the next hour that a lot of that wave energy would hit and for hawaii, a couple hours later. what we're going to look at is mostly lower levels, both for hawaii and for california. a lot of this within the next hour, but anywhere from an inch or two up to possibly a foot. that's a far contrast from

chile. one report was a 16-foot, almost wave with that tsunami coming in, so definitely better for california not expecting a lot, but still something to monitor if you're next to the coastline. otherwise for california, we've had the weather recently and the rain especially that's helped possibly create floods but with the drought situation, the fires, better conditions in terms of no rain and flooding, but the drier conditions and then the heat for the next couple days, this is one of the fire areas, you can see that going back up into the 90's, so we've turned around in terms of more cooperative weather, but the fire situation will get a lot drier again in the next few days. >> thousands of syrian refugees have been pouring into europe for weeks now and the european council president is expected to call for an emergency refugee summit. german chancellor angela merkel has been pushing for the meeting. european member states failed monday to reach an agreement on refugee quote at as.

this morning, u.n. leader ban ki-moon is condemning hungary's latest reaction to the refugees. police on wednesday used water cannons and tear gas to disperse crowds of migrants, including children, along the serbian border. ban ki-moon said those actions are not acceptable. hungary's foreign minister says the country will keep the border closed. we have more from the serbia-hungary border. >> behind me, you can see about 30 to 40 refugees that are staging a peaceful sit in we they are demanding that the e.u. put pressure on the hungarian government to let them across hungary on to austria and germany. there is more anger at this hour here, at this border crossing, because temperatures are really rising. it has gotten severely hot in the last hour, and that means that the tempers are starting to flare, people are worried about

if they are going to get food and water. there are medics here, u.n. personnel, volunteer aid workers, but the refugees here say more need to come here. this is going to become like an encampment, there needs to be more help provided to the refugees that are here. about a kilometer down that way are refugees waiting to get on a bus to take them to the border with croatia. that's the next border they are trying to get into. they are worried about what is going to happen when they cross croatia. >> reporting from the hungarian-serbian border. >> google and trip advisor are joining in to help the journey. the two on line companies are matching one to one donations you make through their charitable websites. you have a choice of humanitarian organizations to give to and the donations are tax deductible. >> our special coverage of the refugee crisis continues throughout the week. join us this sunday for a special report, desperate

journeys, a global crise. it airs at 9:00 p.m. eastern, 6:00 p.m. pacific. >> casting doubt on the u.s. strategy in syria. the pentagon admits it has only had limited success despite a multi-million dollar program to train syrian rebels.

>> i've been asked to keep my voice down keep my voice down

yes the sounds. >> is expect to agree to meetings with russia within the

next few days to discuss the war in syria and russia's military buildup there. moscow says the aid is designed to help fight isil. some in congress are questioning the u.s. strategy in battling the group. we have more. >> we've seen the pictures of rebels squaring off against isil in northern syria. we haven't seen the fighters that the u.s. military planned to train to join that fight. it might be because so few have been trained, just 54, compared to the goal of more than 5,000 by the end of this year. when those 54 men deployed inside syria at mid year were captured by al-nusra. on wednesday, u.s. senators told military leaders their train and assist program is not working. >> can you tell us the total number of total fighters? >> it's a small number. the ones that are in the fight

is -- we're talking four or five. >> as i see it right now, this four or five u.s. trained fighters, let's not kid ourselves, that's a joke. >> we're counting on our fingers and toes at this point, when we had envisioned 5400 by the end of the year. >> senators also demanded confirmation of reports that the u.s. will now train syrians to call in coalition airstrikes against isil targets instead of trying to create a full fledged opposition army. >> i'm not asking you to come before this committee and obfuscate. i'm asking is the pentagon looking at that option, yes or no? >> we are looking at that option as well as others. >> thank you. thank you very much. >> meantime, amid uncertainty surrounding russia's military buildup in syria, foreign minister sergey lavrov proposed resuming might go tear to military contact with the united states. the u.s. suspended those ties in march, 2014 because of russia's

incursion in ukraine. the secretary of state isn't ruling it out. >> words will not answer all of the questions here. it's actions, and it's what will be determined going forward in very specific ways but you have to have to conversation in order to be able to do that. >> the white house isn't commenting on whether reestablishing military contact is a good idea, meaning that there won't be a quick resolution to the crisis. rosalyn jordan, al jazeera, washington. >> joining me is director for iraq at national security council during the george w. bush and obama administration, currently a senior fellow at the new american foundation. thank you for joining us this morning, sir. that congressional testimony yesterday was pretty shocking. the u.s. commander of the forces of middle east admitting that the u.s. has only trained about 50 fighters to take on assad and

most aren't on the bottle field. how do you explain the gap between what the obama administration said they were going to do and what has been accomplished? >> part of it is an in coherence in the policy. we wanted to train them to take on isil. part of screening was to ensure they would fight only isil and not assad. we never figured out who they are fighting for. one is fighting against the isil. i don't think we've really a established that in terms of the united states. the russians on the other hand have a very clearance. we don't like their answer. they want the assad regime to mother or less stick around and enter into peace talks with everyone else. that's not our policy, but the russians have the advantage of having a very clear, very easily explained policy, where as we don't. >> thank you for that. why is it that the fight, if the

u.s. doesn't want assad in power, which has been a pronounced, announced policy by that the obama administration for months now, why is it that the fighters were only trained to go off the isil and not after the assad regime. what sense did that make? >> again, the point is we really don't have a dog, a possible player in syria that we're backing. you know, the major players in syria are the assad regime. we don't want them. isil, we clearly don't want them. al-nusra, which is better called al-qaeda in syria and the islamic front, a self defined syrian taliban, none of these are acceptable alternatives to us, but the rebel organizations are split, they're shattered, the ones who are moderates around politically unified. there's no political body for us to back as an alternative in syria. that's why it's been so hard for us. >> of course, we have to point out before our time runs out

that this entire refugee crisis, at least much of it is generated by the fighting going on in syria. now we have russia publicly moving in heavy military equipment. what should the u.s. response be? what can the u.s. response be to the russian move? >> well, the russians have the advantage of working within the state system. i mean assad, like it or not, is still the leader of syria. he holds the capital. the russians can go reinforce his government. that's a perfectly legitimate international move, just as we reinforce baghdad. they've changed facts on the ground now. the assad regime is evidently not leaving. it may negotiate, but it's not leaving. why the russians are doing this is really the big question. are the russians really that vested in the assad regime, really want it to stay, do they really want the principle of regime change to be thrown out or is it really about as they

say, their concerns about their islamists in chechnya and dagestan, are they afraid if syria continues to metastasize that we've got a problem or trying to positively or negatively change their relations with the u.s. >> thank you, doug for joining us this morning. >> my pleasure, randall. >> new developments in the criminal case involving general motors and the automakers deadly ignition switch problems. the switches led to 124 deaths and many more injuries. today g.m. is expected to announce that it has reached a settlement with the u.s. department of justice. john henry smith is here with details. just how much will g.m. be paying for this? >> as you would expect, the dollar figure has reportedly an impressive number of zeros, but other settlements suggest g.m.'s penance could have been far worse. >> laura christian had hoped someone at general motors would be held criminally responsible for the death of her daughter,

amber marie rose. she died in a 2005 crash, caused by the ignition switch in her chevrolet cobalt shifting out of the run position. that disabled the power steering, power brakes and her airbags while the car was still moving. >> we now know that g.m. employees new about these dangerous and deadly defect and did nothing. >> g.m. new about the problem for more than a decade before instituting a 2.6 million car recall. g.m. admits the problem led to at least 124 deaths and hundreds of injuries, but by settling with the government, no one at g.m. or anywhere else is expected to face criminal charges. under the reported terms of the deal, the company itself will be criminally charged with covering up the ignition flaw and the company will have to pay a nearly $1 billion fine, less than the $1.2 billion toyota had to pay in marsh, 2014 for the

sudden and in some cases fatal acceleration of its cars. >> we have apologized, but that is just one step in the journey to resolve this. >> since c.e.o. mary barra took over in 2013, g.m. has agreed to compensate victim and their families at least $1 million each. the company has also paid a $35 million fine to the national highway traffic safety administration and fired or disciplined 20 employees as a result of an internal investigation that uncovered a lack of accountability company wide. >> while everyone who was engaged on the ignition switch issue had the responsibility to fix it, no one took responsibility. >> the justice department plans to announce date of the settlement today. five months after a federal judge ruled g.m. is not liable for death and injury claims in crashes before 2009 saves g.m. from $10 billion in potential claims, randall. >> just ahead, a show of support

for the texas teen handcuffed for making a clock. he is being invited to spend time at the white house.

>> as the global refugee crisis intensifies... >> they have travelled for weeks, sometimes months. >> and the e.u. struggles to cope... >> we don't know, they stop us here. >> what's being done while lives hang in the balance? >> we need help now. jewel several people missing as two major wildfires burn through northern california. firefighters recovered two bodies wednesday. after a few days of cooler weather, temperatures are rising again in northern california. that will make containing the blazes more challenging. >> a teen in texas is thanking supporters after police dropped charges for bringing a homemade clock to school. >> thank you to all my supporters on twitter, facebook, all social media. thank you all for helping me. i would have never got this far

if not for you guys, not just you guys, everybody. >> he brought the invention in to his classroom to impress his teachers and classmates. instead, the 14-year-old was arrested and suspended. muhammed now plans to transfer to a different school. >> i spoke with the cofounder and executive director of the director of islamic relations. >> i hope we can take a lesson from this russia to judgment from this overreaction to show respect to young talent and not to prejudge them because of their faith, but look at their faith, look at their contribution and see them as a bright, young future leaders in our community and our society. >> president obama tweeted his support for muhammed, inviting the teen to bring his device to the white house for an as strong my event next month. stephanie sy back in two minutes

with more news.

>> mr. trump, we don't need an present advertise in the white house. >> the. >> all of us will be revealed over time and under pressure. >> were their performances enough to stop trump from gaining ground. >> five people dead in chile

after an earthquake and tsunami warnings. >> a muslim teenager responds to a wave of support after his arrest over a homemade clock. now he has an invitation to the white house. >> thank you to all my supporters on twitter, facebook, all social media. thank you all for helping me. >> cutting through the noise, republican contenders for president tried to steal the lime light from donald trump. immigration and foreign policy issues came up, but there were also personal attacks and plenty of zingers. this is aljazeera america, live from new york city. i'm stephanie sy. this morning, there are rising and perhaps fading stars in the gop field. by most assessments, trump did not dominate this debate and

came under fire on several fronts. david shuster joining us this morning for some analysis. david, good to see you. i know it was a late night for you. obviously going after the front runner, that is not a surprise tactic, but was trump prepared for that and was there a clear winner that emerged? >> it was much more of a herd mentality in going after donald trump. while he was at the center of most of the schism issues, because of the design of the debate, it was clear this was an event not just about him. >> at the reagan library in front of a jet that served as air force one, the republicans mentioned the former president more than a den times. >> ronald reagan knew how to go big and go bold. i'm on the reagan side of this. >> i think i actually flew on this plane when i was a congressman with president reagan. >> reagan urged republicans not to attack each other years ago,

and this group hit hard. >> first of all, rand paul shouldn't even be on this stage. >> donald trump and kentucky senator rand paul tangled from the start. >> his visceral response to attack people on their appearance, short, tall, fat, ugly, my goodness, that happened in junior high, are we not way above that? would we not all be worried to have somebody like that in charge of the nuclear arsenal. >> i never attacked him on this look and believe me, there's plenty of subject matter right there. >> jeb bush tried to hit his ties to democrats. >> you got hillary clinton to go to your wedding. >> that's true. >> because you gave her money. >> jeb, jeb, i'm a businessman, i got along with clinton and everybody. that was my job to get along with people. excuse me one second. >> no, the simple fact is donald, you cannot take -- >> more energy tonight, i like that. >> trump and carly fiorina

argued over his business record. >> why should we trust you to manage the finances of this nation any different than your casino. >> it prompted sass operation from chris christie. >> we don't want to hear about your careers, back and forth about who did well and poorly, you're both successful people, congratulations. you know who's not successful? the middle class in this country getting plowed over by barack obama and hillary clinton. let's start talks about those issues and stop the childist back and forth between you. >> carly fiorina was asked if trump was talking about her persona as he claims when he said last month her face would keep her from being elected. >> i think women all over this country heard very clearly what mr. trump said. >> i think she's got a beautiful face and i think she's a beautiful woman. >> a few candidates went out of their way to avoid clashes and instead appear presidential. >> if the united states military's going to be engaged by a commander in chief, it

should only be engaged in an endeavor to win. we are not going to authorize use of force if you are not putting men and women when they can win. >> mike huckabee painted a grim picture of the iran nuclear deal. >> this is really about the survive of western civilization. >> toward the end, the debate veered into lighter territory and there were several funny moments. >> 40 years ago, i smoked marijuana and i admit it. i'm sure others don't want to say it in front of 20 million people. my mom's not happy that i just did. >> the candidates asked what code name they would want from the secret service. >> it's very high energy, donald. >> mr. trump? >> humble. >> that's right, donald trump said that his secret service name should be humble. it was another symbolic moment

where he showed his with it. this was a night that clearly belonged to the rest of the field. >> when it comes to the issues, who appears to be more knowledgable at this point, more factual? >> the debate over factual, because some things she said, but carly fiorina showed a mastery of the subject matter whether talking about business or the obama administration and what the future may hold. >> or syria, libya. >> clearly she emerged and had something of a breakthrough night. if you look at winners and losers, some argue that perhaps one of the losers might have been cnn. one of the biggest gaffes came when cnn identified a woman in a green sweater as being nancy reagan and in fact it was not her, but somebody else and cnn had to apologize. life t.v., things happen between the candidates and anchors.

>> before the main prime time debate was a smaller one featuring four candidates. >> i don't have a famous last name. my to do didn't run for president. i don't have a reality t.v. show. i've got the backbone, i've got the band width, the experience to get us through these tough times. >> if i'm president of the united states, we are going to send more ground forces into iraq because we have to. president obama made a huge mistake by leaving too soon. >> bobby jindal, rick santorum, lindsey graham and george pataki made their case in the so-called happy hour debate. last month, carly fiorina was featured in a similar debate with second tier candidates. we will talk more about this debate. who do you think moved the needle last night? let's start with carly fiorina. >> she moved the needle last night. she obviously made the most of her opportunity to get away from

the kids' table to compete with the top candidates. i think she's the first purpose to land a blow against donald trump since the white house correspondent's dinner at the white house a couple of years ago. she was factually wrong. she claimed that she would do things like do military training in the baltics, which is something president obama is already doing, but showed she is a good debater. >> i believe she was saying she would do more military training as well as send more troops into germany. judging from your twitter feed, you think ben carson also moved the needle. do you think he was specific enough to give voters an idea of how he would govern? >> yeah, which is shocking, because i thought he did a horrible job in the first debate and skyrocketed to second place in the polls. this time, seasonal, all the capped dates sort of descended on donald trump like jack calendars on a caribou and allowed ben carson to explain

his beliefs. he did his best job when he debumpingsed the ant by backsters of damaged trump and rand paul and sounded sincere and succinct. >> he is a neurosurgery. actually, he's not, rand paul is also a physician. >> exactly. >> with jeb bush, in your opinion on the offense last night, a lot of people were watching to see if he could energize his campaign. did he? >> yeah, swing and a miss. i mean jeb bush was terrible. he came out aggressive against donald trump, but he can't match him punch for punch. he started off with his comments trying to save trump casinos in florida. trump deflected it. tries to domed trump wasn't a candidate for the job, he deflected it. he tried to demand that donald trump apologize to his wife in the audience and trump blew him off again. i don't think jeb bush did

himself any favors. >> it is notable that this morning, it is still the so-called political outsiders, carly fiorina, carson and trump that seem to be taking up the most oxygen. at some point, do republican primary voters take a step back and say none of these people have held elective office or governed? >> yeah, that's going to happen. in september of 2011, you know, it was rick perry and michele bachmann doing great. neither made it past iowa. i think there is a chance, a high chance that we're going to see a late switch somewhere in iowa. iowa caucus voters tend to break late and i think someone like trump, ben carson and carly fiorina while seem like the sexy candidates now, if they don't actually spend more time in the state, i think they'll lose out to more established candidates mike marco rubio and ted cruz who have been spending time in iowa, not just giving speeches and spending time on t.v.

>> thank you. >> after shocks are rattling nerves in chile after an earthquake with a magnitude 8.3. it hit off the coast of northern chile last night. five were killed. we have more. >> the 8.3 magnitude earthquake hit as thousands were traveling to the coast ahead of a week long national holiday. people living in the capital santiago described buildings surveyinging and shaking. >> the motion began slightly, then got stronger and stronger. we were on the 12th floor and it was not stopping. fits it was side to side, and then like little jumps. >> everything was moving so much that i had to hold the post, because i couldn't stand. then the after shock. i had to take a cab, but now there's traffic everywhere. the earthquake today was very strong. >> 46 kilometers from the epicenter of the quake, homes

were damaged and electricity knocked out. the mayor of the city described the city as panicked. high waves have hit some areas and hazardous waves are expected along chile's coast. >> right now, they are all the coast without people, and the waves are places near the earthquake. right now people are in the hills because it's a difficult place to go. they are moving slowly, but getting more calm. >> a series of powerful aftershocks have been felt along chile's coastline. people living in affected areas have been told to leave their homes. >> the most important thing today is to support the people, protect them and avoid anymore deaths or injuries, and also ensure that all the appropriate measures are taken. >> tsunami alerts have been issued for peru, hawaii, new

zealand and parts of california. al jazeera. >> some of those waves are expected to hit hawaii and california within the next few hours. let's bring in meteorologist nicole mitchell. how bad will these waves be? >> for us here in the united states, not too much of a problem. a lot of places less than a foot and in fact if measured at all in inches. it takes a while for that energy to move and as it does that, it dissipates. near the epicenter itself, feet being measured, that's one place, almost 16 feet, the tsunami coming in. for california, hawaii in a couple of hours, but for california right now, we're under the tsunami advisories, really the possibility is within this period of time, likely measured in inches for most cases. otherwise for california, the rain has dried up and the heat is going to return, so temperatures still comfortable today. that will be changing and as the heat increases, the fire danger

that dries things out once again, so that will be a problem. the heat we have in the midwest, a front is coming in, bringing rain, as well. those temperatures will be going down the next few details. >> the army is holding a hearing in san antonio today to determine whether there is probable caused to recommend army sergeant bowe bergdahl be court martialed. the public may hear his side of the story for the first time. >> it's one of the most divisive military cases in recent years and a politically sensitive one for the obama administration which bargained for release of captain army sergeant bowe bergdahl. >> this morning, i called bob and janet bergdahl and told them that after nearly five years in captivity, their son, beau, is coming home. >> president obama at the rose garden last may, flanked by the parents of bergdahl announcing that the white house secured the return of their son in exchange for five taliban prisoners held

in guantanamo bay. bergdahl was stationed in southeastern afghanistan when he vanished in june of 2009. he walked off his unit's base, leaving behind his weapon, protective gear and other military equipment. >> my name is bowe bergdahl. >> at some point, he was captured by the taliban and held prisoner for five years. >> we are committed to closing gitmo, but we also have an ironclad commitment to bring our prisoners of war home. >> the president's words ignited a firestorm of controversy. soldiers who served with bergdahl accused him of wanting to join the taliban. >> we want people to realize that he is not an american hero. he is not -- he didn't serve be with honor and dignity and respect and he is a deserter in a time of war. >> sergeant bergdahl endangered the lives of thousands of men and women who went to search for him. he diverted resources from our

units that desperately needed those assets. >> the government has repeatedly said that there is no proof that anyone was killed trying to rescue bergdahl and tried to defend their actions in securing his release. >> this is the right thing to do. we in the united states do not leave our men and women in uniform behind during an armed conflict. >> after an investigation, the army that year charged bergdahl with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. if convicted have the misbehavior chard, he could face life in a military prison. bergdahl's lawyers are expected to argue that he left his post, not the army and that his time in can that activity should be considered punishment enough. al jazeera, san antonio, texas. >> both sides can prevent evidence and cross examine witness during this article 32 hearing. an investigating officer will then issue an examination. >> an investigation is underway to determine whether the

pentagon misled the white house and american public about the u.s. fight against isil. a senate committee grilled the commander on u.s. progress against the group and were not happy with his response. last year, congress authorized $500 million to train 5400 syrian rebels to fight isil. yesterday, congress learned 40 to million dollars of that money has been spent and only four or five of those rebels are actively fighting. jami macintyre has more. >> general austin i must say i've been a member of this committee for nearly 30 years and i've never heard system like this. never. >> the armed services committee hearing began on a contentious note and went downhill from there. in the hot seat, general lloyd austin, head of the u.s. central command and christine warment. amongment questions, what is the u.s. doing to staunch the

refugees leaving syria and going to europe. why not a safe zone in northern syria. >> >> it's always in our best interest to help protect civilians, but again, i would not recommend a buffer zone at this point in time. >> so everything is really going well. >> nos, that's not -- >> general austin's overall argument that progress is being made in iraq and syria despite what he called slow movement at the tactical level was met with derigs, especially when he was forced to admit that of the 54 syrian trained rebels, only a handful are still on the battlefield. >> can you tell us what the total number of trained fighters remains? >> it's a small number and the ones that are in the fight is -- we're talking four or five. >> four or five fighters, after $40 million that was supposed to train more than 5,000, but it's

really good training, says the pentagon and another 120 are in the fight line. >> the forces that we are training while right now are small in number and clearly are not going to reach the numbers that we had planned for are nevertheless getting terrific training and very good equipment and as such, will be able to really be fort multipliers. >> senators found that laughable. >> as i see it right now, this four or five u.s. trained fighters, let's not kid ourselves, that is a joke. >> we have to acknowledge this is a failure, a total failure. i wish it weren't so, but that's the fact. it's way past time to react to that failure. >> general austin again urged patience. >> we said at the outset that the military campaign to counter isil would take time and it will take time. >> congress is losing patience and many called for confronting syrian president bashar al assad more directly, shooting down his

planes, establishing a safe zone and putting u.s. special forces on the ground to help the anti assad and anti isil forces. jami macintyre, al jazeera, the pentagon. >> meanwhile, the obama administration is considering how to respond to a proposal by russia for military to military talks about the war in syria. yesterday, secretary of state john kerry spoke to russia's foreign minister for the third time in a week. >> the russians proposed in a conversation i had today and the last conversation specifically that we have military to military conversation and meeting in order to discuss the issue of precisely what will be done to deconflict with respect to any potential risks that might be run and to have a complete and clear understanding as to the road ahead and what the intentions are. >> kerry said that he reiterated

to sergey lavrov russian's continued military support for syria's president risk escalating the conflict. >> the military says it is in charge today in burkina faso, a coup has been carried out. soldiers stormed a cabinet meeting and detained the interim president and prime minister. they only came to power last year after protests unseated the former leader who had been president 27 years. now new elections are set for october 11. >> calling the refugee crisis, trying to reign in the flood of people seeking refuge in europe. >> general motors hit with a massive fine over an ignition switch problem that left more than 100 people dead.

>> police on wednesday used water cannons arched wednesday to disperse crowds in hungary. ban ki-moon said those actions are not acceptable. hungary's foreign minister said the border will be kept closed. we have more from the serbian, hungarian border. >> behind me, you can see about 30 to 40 refugees that are staging a peaceful sit-in. they are demanding that the e.u. put pressure on the hungarian government to let them across hungary on to austria and germany. there is more anger at this hour

here, at this border crossing, because temperatures are really rising. it has gotten severely hot in the last hour, and that means that the tempers are starting to flare, people are worried about if they are going to get food and water. there are medics here, u.n. personnel, volunteer aid workers, but the refugees here say more need to come here. this is going to become like an encampment, there needs to be more help provided to the refugees that are here. just about a kilometer down that way are refugees waiting to get on a bus to take them to the border with croatia. that's the next crossing they are trying to get into. they are worried about what is going to happen when they cross into croatia. >> traveling through hungary is the easiest pat to europe, but with budapest's new border fence, many are turning south and going in through croatia. croatia isn't connected to another western e.u. country and that is why they are not sure what will happen when they get

there. once they enter austria, they can across into germany and sweden. turkey and greece she still getting an influx of thousands of refugees from the mediterranean. a hungarian member of the european parliament, a member of the committee on civil liberties, justice and home anniversary joins me via skype from belgium. you have seen the car cannons used on refugees. explain the anger used in receiving these people. >> i think what is happening is the darkest part of the hungarian history and is a very shameful time for hungary. it's also from the europe and european union, because we were

not able to help the refugees. i think the policy of the hungarian government is a really bad way. >> hungary, followed by sweden and austria has the largest number of asylum requests as a share of population. is it not understandable that the citizens and government feel they cannot receive more. >> the question is another. amongary is a transsit country, nobody from the refugees would like to stay in hungary. they want to go to other western european countries. this is one point. the second point is our duty would be to help to register refugees to help them to go farther to other european countries, but what the hungarian government did to build a terrible fence and to close the border and to say to the refugees to stay there in no man's land, this is unacceptable.

>> victor organ insisted hungary has the right to build things like a fence or 10 troops to confront the migrants. this is against the e.u.'s policy of free movement within the e.u. is that principle still 10able in the midst of this crisis. >> i have to emphasize that, inc. is not a hungarian problem and not a german problem. this is a common european problem. this is a huge challenge for the european union. therefore, we are arguing or i argue all the time, we need a european solution. this is not a single hungarian solution. we need common european migration and poles. we are working on that in the european parliament our special

coverage continues throughout the week. i host a special report, desperate journeys, with a global crazy that airs at 9:00 p.m. eastern, 6:00 p.m. pacific. >> decision day for the federal reserve. will the nation's central bank hike interest rates or wait longer. >> a major player in bricking cable t.v. to millions of homes is up for sale and more and more americans cut the cord. weeks, sometimes months. >> and the e.u. struggles to cope... >> we don't know, they stop us here. >> what's being done while lives hang in the balance? >> we need help now.

>> the republicans who want to be president are pouring over their performances in last night's debate.

most of the time of the spent attacking donald trump. >> earthquakes in chile left at least five dead. it hit northern chile, causing some homes to collapse. more than a million fled in fears of a tsunami. small waves flooded some shore towns. >> lawyers for bowe bergdahl will give their case today. he was charged with leaving his post in afghanistan. he was speed in a controversial prisoner swamp. >> the federal reserve is wrapping up discussions about raising interest rates for the first time in nine years. the announcement is expected a few hours from now. not everyone agrees that the time is right for a rate hike. >> the last time the federal reserve raised interest rates was back in 2006, but after the great recession hit, the fed

slashed rates to near zero to encourage people to spend money, entice them to take out mortgages and buy houses and other things to kickstart economic growth and create jobs. it's worked to a degree. the economy is growing, slowly, but steadily, while the unemployment rate has plummeted to 5.1%. that takes care of only one of the fed's objectives, by law, the fetials has to ensure price and financial stability. this is where economists disagree on the timing of the next rate hike. a certain amount of inflation is necessary to help the economy grow, but inflation has been running well below the fed's 2% target for over three years and the situation has grown worse as oil prices have dropped and the dollar has strengthened against other currencies. some economists reason that a tighter labor market will eventually force wages up as employers bid for the best workers. they also believe that the impact of low oil prices and a

strong dollar will eventually ease up. others think it's a mistake to raise u.s. interest rates when the global economy is weakening. higher rates here will pull even more money out of emerging economies and into the u.s., turbo charging an already strong dollar making u.s. goods more expensive overseas. that cuts into corporate profits and could curb job creation. as low inflation, will encourage sitting on cash. japan rose rates and plunged the country back into a deflationary trap of weak growth and falling prices. while in 2011, the european central bank hiked rates and sent prices tumbling. what's a fed official to do? all they can do is weigh the evidence and hope they make the right move at the right time.

>> patricia sobga reporting there. joining me is with my cohan a, a former wall street banker and author of several books on wall street. do you think now is the time for the fed to raise interest rates? >> it is absolutely the time. we've basically been in what they call a zero interest rate environment for seven or eight years now. it was a very interesting experiment. it was an important move by the fed when congress failed to provide enough stimulus after the financial crisis, so the fed jumped in with monetary policy, which was important and creative and interesting and it basically pulled us out of what could have been a recession. but that time for experimentation is over. >> you believe that for americans that save their money, on a fixed income, this is important. tell us why. it seems like a lot of liberals believe that keeping interest rates low is best for working

class americans. >> who does low interest rates really help? they really help people who make money from money. the people who make money from money are on wall street, hedge fund executives, the banks. the people not benefited by low interest rates are the people who save. the vast swath of the american people who are retired, on fixed incomes. >> what about people that want to buy a home, what about people that want to get a car loan? >> yes, yes, yes. there are lots of people who want to do that. we've been flooded with people wanting to buy homes and cars. the truth is those low interest rates while they do help with mortgage rates which are relatively low as an historical basis, it's very hard to get a mortgage now. it was easy in 2006, 2007, now because credit pendulum has swung is very hard to get a

morning. for people on fixed in come and savers, it's close to zero. that's not acceptable. >> you've actually called these low rates and this loose money a morphine drip. >> yes. >> why do you think janet yellen and fed have kept the interest rates low and do you think there is a relationship between what they're saying on wall street and their decision today or october or december? >> absolutely. you have to remember that what people forget about the fed is that it's owned by the big banks. people think it's another branch of the american government, but it's not. it's not in the constitution, it is nowhere. it is part of the system owned by the big banks. >> the fed has a mandate, right, they have to keep prices stable, they have to keep the financial markets stable. >> their mandate is to keep inflation low and inflation high. the unemployment target when it

reached six and a half%, they would stop the easy money policy. >> inflation hasn't risen. >> inflation of what they measure hasn't risen, but look at inflation of financial assets, the stock market, bonds, of real estate, all have these things have been wildly over inflated. the stock market has tripled since it's lows of march of 2009. people on fixed income and safes getting decimated by the fed policy because the returns they get on their savings account, mine is like six base points. that's nothing. who benefits? the people who borrow money all day long, people who make money from money. >> going back to the bigger picture. does janet yellen look at china, the slowdown there, and base the

decision on that. >> i'm not privy to what she bases her decision on. i think the stock people reacted the way they did in august because they were concerned janet yellen was about to raise rates. this has been the reaction that goes on between wall street ant fed for years now. every time the fed looks like it's going to raise rates, stock markets react negatively. >> you say that's because the fed is influenced by hedge funds. >> absolutely, the fed works for the wall street banks. zero interest rate policy benefits wall street and people who make money from money. >> thank you for sharing your perspective. >> my pleasure. >> one of this country's largest cable companies is set to be bought out by a european firm, cable vision which serves people, mostly in the new york area is being purchased.

that company tried to buy time warner cable earlier this year. the deal is valid at $18 billion. >> new developments in the criminal case involving general motors and automakers's deadly ignition switch problems that led to 124 deaths and many injuries. today, the justice department is expected to announce it has reached a settlement with the company. john hen smith has details. john, how steep of a price will g.m. have to pay? >> as you would expect, the settlement has an impressive number of zeros reportedly, but other settlements suggest g.m.'s penance could have been far worse. >> laura christian had hoped someone at general motors would be held criminally responsible for the death of her daughter, amber marie rose. she died in a 2005 crash, caused by the ignition switch in her chevrolet cobalt shifting out of the run position. that disabled the power steering, power brakes and her airbags while the car was still moving. >> we now know that g.m.

employees knew about these dangerous and deadly defects and did nothing. >> g.km. new about the problem for more than a decade before instituting a 2.6 million car recall. g.m. admits the problem led to at least 124 deaths and hundreds of injuries, but by settling with the government, no one at g.m. or anywhere else is expected to face criminal charges. under the reported terms of the deal, the company itself will be criminally charged with covering up the ignition flaw and the company will have to pay a nearly $1 billion fine, less than the $1.2 million toyota had to pay in marsh, 2014 for the sudden and in some cases fatal acceleration of its cars. >> we have apologized, but that is just one step in the journey to resolve this. >> since c.e.o. mary barra took over in 2013, g.m. has agreed to compensate victim and their

families at least $1 million each. the company has also paid a $35 million fine to the national highway traffic safety administration and fired or disciplined 20 employees as a result of an internal investigation that uncovered a lack of accountability company wide. >> while everyone who was engaged on the ignition switch issue had the responsibility to fix it, no one took responsibility. >> the justice department plans to announce details of the settlement today, five months after a federal judge ruled g.m. is not liable for death and injury claims in crashes before 2009 saves g.m. from $10 billion in potential claimings. >> a teen is thanking supporters after charges were dropped against him. he brought in an invention to impress his teacher and classmates. instead, he was arrested and

suspended, sparking outrage and an outpouring of support, including from the president. >> it's the look of a confused boy, this picture on twitter of 14-year-old ahmed muhammed appearing to be puzzled over how his homemade digital clock landed him in handcuffs. >> it wasn't the first time i brought an invention to school. >> he said is engineering took a look and told him to keep it out of sight, but when his english teacher so you the messy wires and pencil case he packed the clock in, she alerted the principal and the principal called the police. >> they arrested me and they told me that i committed a crime of a hoax bomb, a fake bomb. >> the device apparently was a homemade experiment and there's no evidence to support the perception he intended to create alarm. no charges will be filed and the case is considered closed. >> the case may be closed but

it's far from over. it sparked a wave of allegations, including discrimination by some in the mutt lick community. >> i think this wouldn't even be a question if his name wasn't ahmed muhammed. he is an excited kid who is very bright, likes to in vent things and share it with his teachers. >> police say they were follow guidelines. >> that's a very suspicious device. we live in an age where you can't take things like that to school. >> wednesday, muhammed said he would change schools and was grateful for the outpouring of support. >> thank you for my supporters. thank you all for helping me. i would have never got this far if it wasn't for you guys, not just you guys, but everybody. >> social media has erupted with a backlash against police and administrators of school. mark zuckerberg posted ahmed if you ever want to come by facebook, i'd love to meet you. president obama tweeting cool

clock, ahmed, want to bring it to the white house? we should inspire more kids like you to like science. it's what makes america great. >> he is still under suspension. his family says he's looking for another school to attend. >> when it comes to referring students to law enforcement, texas ranks 31st among u.s. states. virginia refers the most, more than 15 students per thousand. delaware was second at just under 15. texas sent fewer than five students per thousand to police. those figures are from the 2011, 12 school year. the cofounder and executive director on the council of south carolina relations said he was outraged when he heard about muhammed's arrest. >> unfortunately, because he's muslim, he's been mistaken for

potentially having something harmful like a bomb and that's islamaphobia. >> muhammed is planning attend the white house next month for a science expedition. >> former president jimmy carter is standing strong in the face of his cancer diagnosis. he hosted his annual town hall meeting just a few days after undergoing cancer treatment. he does not appear to be letting the treatment slow limb down. he is still dishing out advice on foreign policy challenges. >> in dealing directly with isis, i would not at least publicly favor sending ground troops in, but i think we could have better surveillance on our bombing and better analysis of what is going on. >> the cancer treatment has not stopped him from teaching sunday school. >> on the ivory trail from

africa to china, we gain access to the business operating outside of the law.

>> crews are searching for several missing people at two major wildfires continue to burn through northern california. firefighters recovered two bodies wednesday, bringing the death toll from the fires to three. after a few days of cooler weather, temperatures are rising in northern california, making containing fires more challenging. >> there is growing concern about the world's threatened oceans. the world wildlife fund warns that humans are plundering the seas and as a result, many creatures have died. >> the world wildlife fund says the world said oceans have lost more than 50% of their vertebrate populations over four

decades. in other words, half the fish, mammals, birds and reptiles that depend on the oceans are gone. some fish species have declined by almost 75%. for this report, the organization tracked thousands of marine animal populations around the globe since 1970. it says the decline is more serious than previously thought. not only are the vertebrates disappearing, but their happen at that times are being destroyed and degraded. the report shows half the worlds coral reefs and sea grasses have been destroyed. over 25% of all marine species live in coral reefs, yet they cover less than development and destruction of the world heritage lifted. >> the world wildlife fund said the world is mismanaging the oceans to the brink of collapse.

that will be a world economic crisis. the biggest drivers of the decline are human action, including over population. the global population is expected to grow by another 2 billion to reach 9.6 billion by 2050, with most people in coastal areas. a 300% increase in ship traffic over the past two decades, $14 billion to $35 billion in subsidies that encourage overfishing mostly in developed countries, and global warming. the organization estimates that at current rates, coral reefs could disappear entirely by 2050 because of warmer, more acidic water. richelle carey, al jazeera. >> we've really hit a brick wall

here when it comes to future of life on our planet, when it comes to the future of the great wilderness that makes up planet earth. we know now many of these resources around us have a limitation, and we're sort of teetering on the drink and it's a real wake-up call. >> the oceans have been warming and that has also been melting sea ice in the arctic. now a new analysis finds that ice is at its fourth lowest level on record, impacting weather patterns across the world. let's bring in nicole mitchell. how alarmed are scientists by this new number? >> especially in the last decade, we had been fairly stable with the ice and now it continues to shrink and shrink and set different records. the low extent is how much it shrinks in the summer. our air temperatures are warmest in july and august, takes the water longer to warm up, so in september is when we hit this

minimum. it has been steadily going down over the last decade or two, you know, some more or less over different years, but the trend that definitely been downward. greenland in the arctic, obviously this is land, not sea ice, but in a typical year, we'd see some melting, some growth of the ice. this is 2012. this his the biggest record arctic melt and you can see, almost every day the bigger reds are more days, almost every day we had exceptional melts versus 2013 where it was average back and forth. 2012 around the entire region was our biggest melt year. we got down to 1.3 million square miles of ice. that sounds like a lot, but the average is 2.4, and if you throw out this past decade, it should be 2.6. that means half of what we used to, and now this year is number four on that list, but of the last nine years, all of those

are last nine years that have set records basically, so that's what the trend i go concerning. the ice is also thinner in the area. this map is taken just from last friday, showing the realtime picture of where the ice is. that's how much wider it should be based on averages, so definitely we've had some loss if you look at the long material p.m. this kind of becomes a self fulfilling paragraph fee. ice and snow reflects sunlight. when you have less of that, the water absorbs more heat energy. that melts more ice and that makes the process accelerate. this is a huge problem, because all that watered as to ocean levels and impacts the animals. >> scientists are pretty much in agreement that that also could impact weather patterns, as well, right? >> things like the current, changing those impacts weather in a broader term and they say this area could be ice-free within 20 years. >> the geography of the arctic

literally changing before our eyes. nicole mitchell, thank you. >> conservation groups say upward of 30,000 elephants are killed every year in part for their ivory despite trading ivory being illegal in much of the world. we gained exclusive access to the supply chain that stretches from africa all the way to china. >> in tanzania, a herd of elephants move through grass lands, but their numbers are dropping by the day. slaughtered by poachers for their ivory tusks. >> they follow it until they are very close. they use the gun to shoot. after it dice, they take the action and cut and cut and cut. >> while those at the top of the trade make handsome pro fits, desperately villagers risk much for very little reward. >> this job is very dangerous, if you are caught, you are shot.

>> the illegal trade is fueled by a growing demand from china, where ivory remain as highly prized status symbol. traveling from tanzania to the busy port of hong kong, the gateway to this growing market. between 2000 and 2014, customs officials seized 33 tons of ivory here. >> they are checking 1% of the cargoes. that's how much was seized and how was was not seized. >> we are determined to curb illegal poaching of elephants and ending illegal trade in elephant ivory. >> undercover, we meet dealers willing to help us smuggle ivory. >> you want to do this legally or illegally? >> in shanghai, we find buyers experienced in the trade. >> we can pay cash on delivery. we can do the deal at my company. right now, we only want african ivory. we only want african ivory.

>> with the smuggling and selling of ivory so commonplace, despite global efforts to ban the trade, there's been little to stop africa's wild elephants from disappearing in just a few decades. al jazeera. >> nearly 2,000 items brought to the u.s. by immigrants more than 100 years ago will soon go on display. the items were returned to the ellis island museum wednesday. they were removed for restoration after hurricane sandy devastated the island three years ago. the restoration is costing nearly $40 million. >> a tightrope walker overcame a scare in australia attempting to cross between the two ends of an office to your 1,000 feet up in the air. he laid down on the wire as he developed a leg cramp but managed to push through. >> thanks for watching, have a great morning.

>> i kept trying to make him not be a boy... it's not working. >> transgender children. >> i'd sit alone, i'd eat alone, i have no one to talk to. >> some dismiss it as a phase. >> we're trying to pigeon-hole him into "tom boy". >> but is it reallt a crisis? >> when your child wants to die... that's what changes parents. >> meet the families on a life changing journey. >> i finally get to blossom into the beautiful flower i am!

>> hello, welcome to the al jazeera news hour from doha. coming up: >> riot police are deployed in croatia as hundreds of refugees arrive across the border from hungary. a coo in balk keen in a