the adopted parents. her travel to france has been delayed indefinitely. it's not clear how long they will have to wait more news on the website aljazeera.com. the palestinian leader is about to speak before the united nations. abbas promises a bombshell announcement. for the first time in 70 years, the state of georgia has executed a woman. an oklahoma inmate is scheduled to die later today. troops are in the ground in a strategic afghan city. their mission in the battle for kunduz.

this is al jazeera america. good morning live from new york city. we begin with expectations at the united nations today. palestinian president abbas is calling fob an end to direct peace negotiations with israel. ahead of his speech to the u.n. general assembly, he wrote an op-ed for the huffington post says saying the same pattern will not work, because israel is the occupying power. that is why a collective, multi-lateral peace process is necessary. abbas says similar negotiations worked with the iran nuclear deal. we have more on what to expect from the palestinian president today. >> reporter: a symbolic day for palestinians. for the first time the united nations will be raising the palestinian flag alongside 193 member state flags.

palestine remains an observer state at the international body, but the palestinian president says this gesture is a sign of the future. >> translator: when we go to the general assembly, the flag will be raised and god willing, will raise this flag above jerusalem, too. >> reporter: while it may give the palestinians hope, the u.s. and israel say the measures are meaningless without a negotiated two-state conclusion. raising the flag is not an although nafb to negotiations and will not bring the parties closer to peace. time and time again peace talks have started and failed. most recently in early 2014 when the united states tried to broker a deal. >> in the end, my friends, as all of you know, you can facilitate, you can push, you can nudge, but the parties themselves have to make fundamental compromises. they're hoping to start

negotiations again but a lot of sticking points make negotiations sticky. abbas is likely to talk about israel's policy, illegal settlements, the ongoing violence around the mosque in jerusalem. the man in charges of parts of the west bank has reportedly promised a bombshell announcement at the u.n. some reports suggested that could include disbanding the palestinian authority, which could leave israel responsible for the welfare of all palestinians in the occupied territories. >> there is no doubt that the palestinians are unhappy with their own leadership for various reasons. there's no doubt this gap between public expectations and what the leaders are able to offer is something that is hurting abbas and will continue to hurt abbas. >> john has covered the united nations general assembly in new york and joins us live this morning. in addition to abbas' address today, there will be a

counterterrorism summit on the sidelines of the ga with russia reading the sessions. how will this discussion differ from the sidelines on terrorism chaired yesterday by president obama? >> well, that is a first class question, and there is a diplomatic answer and there is a blunt answer and i'm going to give you the blunt answer, no difference whatsoever. it's funny you raise that issue this morning with me, because the russian ambassador to the united nations is chairing the security council for this month. russia is in the chair. he's a big guy with blonde hair. he's saying, look, you undermine the security council authority here by holding the summit yesterday chaired by president obama. you should have transferred that to the claim chamber of the security council today and had it today. for what will come out of it, i don't think a lot will come out of it. counterterrorism and syria are the two key themes of this general assembly so far.

they don't really say the united nations but we say in the media there's lots of talking and people get their day in the sun and their local television stations back at home, and there probably won't be a conclusion. once again, it's putting this key issue out there on the international agenda. >> as you know, the russians did not participate in president obama's conference yesterday. will the u.s. participate in russia's today? >> yes, u.s. will be there today. then, of course, later on we have the secretary, john kerry, meeting up with his counterpart lavrov. sergei lavrov is a very experienced diplomat and now the foreign minister for russia. he used to be the ambassador to the united nations here for about ten years. of course, top of their agenda today is going to be the fact that the upper house in moscow has just approved sending russian military hardware including jets and troops to syria. now, in a sense it's just a rubber stamping exercise, because we know the troops are

already there, 500 marines and jets and tanks and all sorts of things over there. the key question and in many ways the only question is what is russia actually going to do with those troops and hardware? will they use it to fight isil, or will they use to bolster the opposition forces presently against russia's ally, president assad of syria? nobody knows. that's the key question and what the secretary wants to know of sergei lavrov whether they meet today. probably no firm outcome, but we should get a written statement from both of them. >> thank you. 19 countries including the u.s. are now backing a new fund to help the united nations combat the crisis in europe. together they have pledged $1.8 billion to u.n. aide aid agencies including those running refugee camps in turkey, lebanon and jordan. in afghanistan u.s. military advisers are on the ground near

a strategic city that fell to the taliban. afghan forces are fighting to retake the city of kunduz. some nato coalition forces are there as well. overnight they conducted another air strike on the taliban aimed at the kunduz airport. we are with afghan fighters on the ground. >> the latest update from kunduz city, from civilians and taliban are searching house to house and forcing afghan civilian boys to join them on the fight against the government. they're announcing in the last speaker to the people of kunduz, to the residents of kunduz to continue the life and they're asking people to open their shops. they're promising people they're going to stay for long. as far as we know, there is no operation going on in kunduz city. everyone is waiting. waiting for the right decision

and waiting for the right time. now here i'm joined with the captain. he will explain to us why they're sfuk in this location for two days and cannot go forward. sir, why are you not going forward and going to kunduz? >> we want to start the fight against the afghan enemies because that locate, because they want to locate to what they promised to. yesterday we started like at 4:00 p.m. fighting with the taliban, and we fell in that area. we want to go back from that army and also they have lots of casualties. one of the important reasons we didn't want to go faster against the taliban is because there's civilian people. we want to go like so slowly. >> reporter: when do you think, sir, you can reach kunduz? when do you think you can retake kunduz from taliban? one day, 12 hours, 24 hours. we'll recheck again the kunduz

province. the u.s. is reportedly looking into slowing the pace of the u.s. troop drawdown in afghanistan. there are currently about 6800 u.s. service members on the ground there. heavy rain is falling this morning on a big part of the east, and some people in virginia are being urged to stay indoors in emergency shelters. these pictures are from the northwestern part of the state, creeks and sewers overflowed turning streets into rivers, and some areas roads are streets are under 5 to 7 feet of water. let's bring in nicole mitchell. >> first we had it in the south and moved up through the northeast. pretty consistent rain this morning. i've seen reports across the mid-atlantic to the northeast, a lot of 1 and 2 inches already and a couple parts in massachusetts is where i saw the most as it moves northward around 5 inches.

this isn't over. this is a couple-day event for us, but the region under the flood mostly watches this morning is through the northeast from more rain, and most of it today. we have a couple day event, so eventually i think some shift back towards the mid-atlantic. what happened is we had that tropical moisture from the south interact with the front. so most of this into the northeast today, but that front kind of lingers across the area. we get a little bit more energy. it looks like the mid-atlantic, we could see a little bit more rain and the whole region has chances the next three days really. but this could be the wettest day maybe friday at this point, where's the northeast's wettest day is today. all these days look fairly wet. totals are high and widespread and especially closer to the coastline, three, four, five inches. very close to the coastline in the places i've highlighted, 6 or 8 inches and isolated spots that always get more. this isn't the only problem for this region. we now have a tropical storm

joaquin up to 70 miles per hour, so that's just under hurricane strength. we have watches and warnings, hurricane watches and warning for parts of the bahamas already. over the next couple of days, right now he's meandering at 6 miles per hour. it looks like eventually it will strengthen and move to the north. early next week we will monitor it in the meantime, but watching this for the east coast. when the storms meander like this in terms of intensity and where they're going to go, it's a little trickier of a forecast, but definitely something to monitor. >> thank you, nicole mitchell. the state of georgia has executed it's only female death row inmate, kelly renee gissendaner was put to death after midnight. this afternoon the same fate awaits a condemned man in oklahoma. we have more on the state of georgia rejecting all of her appeals, including one from the pope. >> that's right, randall.

her family fought until the last-minute delays her execution for five hours until the last appeal was exhausted. witnesses say she was singing "amazing grace" during her final moments. supporters prayed for kelly gissendaner outside the prison in jackson, georgia, but shortly after midnight -- >> the court ordered execution of kelly renee gissendaner was carried out in accordance with state law. >> she was the first woman put to death in georgia in 70 years. her fate was sealed when the state supreme court decided not to spare her life. >> she made a statement and requested a final prayer. >> the mother of three was convicted in 1998 of convincing her lover, gregory owen, to murder her husband. owen was sentenced to life in prison as part of a plea deal for testifying against her. pope francis last week called for an end to the death penalty. >> every life is sacred.

>> reporter: in a statement from the vatican, a papal representative said officials should, quote, commute the sentence to one that better expresses justice and mercy. the state clemency board denied the appeal without explanation. the family of her late husband, doug, released a statement saying, courts had given his wife more rights than she gave him. yet, supporters fought to the end arguing that not only was gissendaner remorseful, she became a model prisoner study theology while in prison. >> every day i feel like my world is just falling apart. >> her children could have spent their mother's final hours with her. instead, they choose to continue appealing for her life, a friend said she left her children a final message. >> i love you. i'm so proud of you. >> another death row inmate, richard glossip is scheduled for

execution this afternoon. his case went to the supreme court when the justices ruled the lethal injection didn't violation the constitution protection against cruel and unusual punishment. oklahoma's highest criminal court denied a stay as has oklahoma governor mary fallin. >> there was a crime committed. richard glossip is not innocent. there's a disagreement as to what his sentence was. >> his supporters insist he's innocent of murdering a motel manager in 1997. his lawyers have appealed once again to the u.s. supreme court to try and block his execution. unless the justices step into this case, he will be put to death this afternoon. randall. >> thank you, john henry. the vatican this morning is not confirms that kentucky clerk kim davis met with the pope last week in washington. her lawyer has said that the two spoke for about ten minutes at the vatican embassy and that the holy see has pictures of the

meeting. pope francis presented davis and her husband were rosary beads. she was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses so she could avoid giving them to same-sex couples. in the hot seat. the head of planned parenthood fires back at lawmakers and denies allegations the group sold fetal tissue for profit. the judge sets trial date for the baltimore police officers accuse in the death of freddie gray. which is said about the moments before he died.

a temporary funding bill to keep the government runs should be on the president's desk by midnight. it's expected to pass the house and senate today. now, the measure does not contain language defunding planned parenthood. that had been a demand of some conservative lawmakers. planned parenthood's ceo defended the group on capitol hill tuesday. cecile richards saying they provide 2 million women with health care services every year but she faced strong push back from lawmakers. >> tell me about the $200,000 you gave to the ballot initiative strategy center. what was that for? >> perhaps you're not aware that there have been many efforts in states over the last several years to pass ballot initiatives that restrict women's access to birth control and reproductive health care. we absolutely have been involved in ballot initiative measures

that have been introduced by people who want to restrict women's health care. >> if you want to be a private entity, be one. you don't need federal dollars in order to do this. >> i don't use federal dollars to do that, sir. >> you do to run the organization. >> richards was questioned about her $600,000 salary. several democrats criticized the committee leadership for attacking the witness and called the hearing part of a campaign against abortion rights. officials in new york are searching for the source of a new cluster of legionnaires disease infections. they confirmed three more cases in the bronx. seven cooling tower in the same neighborhood test positive for the bacteria. it's not clear if the latest cases are connected to an outbreak in july that led to 16 deaths. the dates have been set for the officers charged in the death of freddie gray to go on trial. all six baltimore offers will be tried separately with the first case scheduled for late november. paul has more on what led to the

charges. >> reporter: that cry of distress and pain at about 8:45 a.m. on april 12th is the last time anyone other than a baltimore police officer heard freddie gray alive. >> that boy his leg is broke and you're dragging him like that! >> after that the 25-year-old was loaded into a police van, and at some point during the next 45 minutes, as the van drove through the city, gray sustained severe injuries to his head and spinal cord. >> what do we want? justice. when do we want it? now >> reporter: his death one week later sparked protests that spiralled into kie i don'ts. >> the manner of death is deemed a homicide is the result of a fatal injury that occurred while mr. gray was unrestrained by a seat belt in the custody of the baltimore police department wagon. >> reporter: of the six officers involved in gray's arrest, only the police van's driver, officer

cesar goodson jr. faces a murder charge. the others face manslaughter, assault and other charges. according to the documents obtained by "the baltimore sun," officer william porter says he warned his fellow officers that fray needed medical attention. porter says at one point gray pleaded help me up. porter said he asked gray if he needed to go to the hospital and when he talk to the van's driver about gray's condition, goodson reportedly said he thought gray might be faking. another officer said gray had a case of jailitis. porter wasn't sure either. he said everybody plays i need to go to the hospital thing when they get arrested. what the officers said and did while gray was in the van has been under scrutiny since the beginning of the case. >> i still want to know why the policies and the procedures for transport were not followed. i still want to know why none of the officers called for immediate medical assistance,

despite mr. gray's apparent pleas. the one thing we all know is that because of this incident a mother has to bury her child. she doesn't even know exactly how or why this tragedy occurs. only that this occurred while her child was in our custody, in police custody. this is unacceptable. >> reporter: according to the police investigation, when the van arrived at the police station, gray was on his knees with his head against a wall and didn't answer when officers called his name. officer porter said, he's not looking too good. before gray was loaded into an ambulance and driven to a hospital where he would fall into a coma and die. paul bebin, al jazeera, new york inches dri inches. drilling for oil in california is a dirty business, but one company is looking to clean it up using the power of

the sun.

>> we're here to fully get into the nuances of everything that's going on, not just in this country, but around the world. getting the news from the people who are affected. >> people need to demand reform... >> ali velshi on target weeknights 10:30p et a california company has devised a way to pump oil out of the ground using solar energy. our science and technology correspondent jacob ward has a look at the future of fossil fuels. >> we leave in an era when people talk a lot about alternative energy and the possibility of getting off of oil and other fossil fuels entirely. the trouble is we really depend on oil right now. we're sort of handcuffed to it because we use to produce an incredible amount of energy. we manufacture things like tires. we fuel our cars with it. the difficulty is we're up against a new challenge when it

comes to oil. we've already pulled the easy stuff out of the ground, the light oil that is a sort -- that is a liquid form up out of the ground. that's been really easy to get out. now we move into new stuff. we're fracking the tar sands oil, and about two-thirds of what's left of oil in the world is this stuff, heavy oil. it am ko -- it comes out of the ground in kind of consistency. check it out. as a result the world uses steam to essentially heat it up, inject steam into the ground and heat it up and pull it out more easily than you ever could otherwise. the difficulty is that adds an extra amount of carbon emissions to what is already a pretty carbon-intensive stuff. the whole process of both producing and then burning fuel creates this incredible carbon footprint, but now a company has come up with a system for using

solar power to get this stuff out of the ground. it raises all kinds of economic and political complications. i'll explain more of that in a story later tonight. coming up this evening, jake will explain how this new technology could refuse lugsize the oil industry tonight at 8:00 eastern. as of today you can get behind the wheel of an all-electric suv. tesla is putting the model x up for sale. the ceo showed off the vehicle outside the san francisco factory on tuesday. it is billed as the world's fastest suv going from zero to 60 in 3.2 seconds. it has the falcon doors everyone is talking about. the model x can be yours for $132,000. there are the falcon doors. thanks for joining us. stephanie is back with more al jazeera america morning news.

the fight for kunduz. we're on the ground as afghan forces make their advance to take back a city seized by the taliban. the court ordered of kelly renee gissendaner was carried out in accordance with state law. >> georgia executes the only woman on death row despite a plea from the pope. her final message to her family. a super soaker for the east. a major storm drenches the region as a bigger tropical threat looms, joaquin is now a

hurricane. this is al jazeera america live from new york city, i'm stephanie cy. the state of georgia keeks could you telled their own only female death row inmate and this afternoon the same fate awaits a man in oklahoma. even the pope called for this woman's life to be spared. >> that's exactly right, stephanie. gissendaner's family fought until the last-minute until the last appeal was exhausted. witnesses say she was singing "amazing grace" during her final moments. supporters prayed for kelly gissendaner outside the prison in jackson, georgia, but shortly after midnight -- >> the court-ordered execution of kelly renee gissendaner was

carried out in accordance with state law. >> the 47-year-old became the first woman put to death in georgia in 70 years. her fate was sealed when the state supreme court decided not to spare her life. >> she made a final statement, and she requested a final prayer. >> the mother of three were convicted in 1998 of convincing her lover gregory owen to murder her husband. owen was sentenced to life in prison as part of a plea deal for testifying against her. pope francis last week called for an end to the death penalty. >> every life is sacred. >> in a statement from the vatican, a papal representative said officials should, quote, commute the sentence to one that would better express both justice and mercy. the state clemency board denied the appeal without explanation. the family of her late husband, doug, released a statement saying courts had given his wife more rights than she gave him. yet, supporters fought to the end arguing that not only was

gissendaner remorseful, she had also become a model prisoner studying theology while in prison. >> every day i feel like my world is just falling apart. >> reporter: gissendaner's children could have spent their mother's final hours with her. instead, they chose to continue appeals for her life. a friend said she left her children a final message. >> i love you, i love you, i love you. i'm so proud of you. >> another death row inmate, oklahoma's richard glossop is scheduled for excuse this afternoon. his case went to the supreme court last spring whether the justices rowelled a lethal injection dug didn't violate the constitution's protections against cruel and unusual punishment. the highest court denied a stay as has oekz governor mary fallin. >> there was a crime committed. richard glossop is not innocent. there's disagreement as to what his sentence was. >> his supporters insist he is

innocent of murdering a motel manager back in 1997. his lawyers have appealed once again to the u.s. supreme court to try to block his execution. unless the justices step into this case again, he will be put to death this afternoon. >> of course, all of this happening just days after the pope called for an end to the death penalty in this country. john henry smith, thank you. heavy rain is falling this morning throughout much of the east. in southern virginia several schools are closed. these are pictures from the northwestern part of the state. creeks and sewers overflowing turning streets into rivers. on some roads the water was up to 7 feet deep. parts of james madison university are still closed this morning. pictures here from there. eight inches of water flowed through the parking lot and underground tunnels of the campus. local roads leading into the school re-opened about an hour ago. there's much more tropical weather in the forecast. nicole, what's the latest with joaquin? >> we had been a tropical storm,

but a strong one at 70 miles per hour. now with the 8:00 a.m. advisory, 75 miles per hour, which puts it into the hurricane category. that was expected. this is an intensifying storm. you see this near the bahamas, and the bahamas, hundreds of islands, a long stretch. so it's more the central and kind of north and western bahamas impacted by this, not the entire region but this is a meandering system right now. it only has wind speed of about 6 miles per hour, and when there's not a good steering force, it becomes a little bit more challenges in terms of what that track forecast is. so for the next couple of days, i put some of the different computer models on here. what those are is computers ingest all the weather data and they have different tolerances and put out different potentials. so it kind of sticks here for a couple of days near the bahamas before eventually getting a steers force to the north. that is what we're more concerned about in the united states. from north carolina through new

england we had need to watch this, especially for early next week. we have a few days but definitely something that could cause problems. the mid-atlantic and northeast doesn't want that because we're too wet. we showed you the flooding, and it's definitely into the northeast today. that front is not moving fast, and it will cause problems for a few days. most of the flood concerns are a little bit more into the northeast in new england, but over the next couple of days as the front stays in place, the mid-atlantic still has chances especially into friday for the heavier rain there. the whole region will have chances on and off for the next couple of days for heavy rain. we've had some places, massachusetts, for example, already five inches. some places near the coast could get more than that when you add it all up. >> nicole mitchell, thank you. the u.s. is taking a stepped-up role in morning in the fight against the taliban in afghanistan. al jazeera america has confirmed that u.s. military advisers are now on the ground near the city

of kunduz in the country's north. reportedly american special forces are among those advisers. overnight the u.s. conducted another air strike on taliban positions this time aiming for the kunduz airport. the u.s. and nato are trying to help afghan forces retake the city. it was seized by the taliban on monday. afghan forces say they're willing and able to beat back the taliban. >> no, they're not stronger. they can't fight against us. the taliban want to bring the taliban location into the civilian people and also they're in civilian homes and they are fighting against the -- they're fighting from the homes in the villages and sfr the shop keepers and the shops in the city. that's why we don't want to fight against them because there's civilian people, and we

want to go so slowly. >> we're with afghan fighters on the ground. >> reporter: now it seems like the taliban is trying to spread the war all along the north of the country. the soldiers await, and they're panicking in the past few minutes. they have received reports there's a big attack on them. so they don't think it's safe for them. in kunduz with talked with the people of kunduz, the residents. people are leaving the city going to the north side of the province, the neighboring province. the taliban are announcing in the loud speakers to the people to continue their lives and asking them to cooperate with them, to bury their bodies and other help if they can. also, taliban is going door to door or house to house searching for young boys to join them. they're forcing people to join them in the fight against the government.

>> that's our report from afghanistan. doctors without borders says its hospital in kunduz has been inundated since the fighting began. more than 170 people have been injured in recent days. russia's president putin has the go ahead from parliament to deploy russian troops to syria. moscow has built up the military presence in a coastal city in syria in recent months. the kremlin says the goal is to help the assad government fight isil. the senior officials says the parliament's authorization applies to the use of the russian air force, not ground troops. this morning the reuters news service reports that russian has launched the first air strike in syria. the palestinian flag will be flying at the united nations headquarters in new york for the first time today. palestinian president abbas will address the general assembly and he said in recent days he would drop a bombshell. john has been covering this.

what do we expect to hear? >> reporter: he'll speak later this afternoon. he's old now. he's lived most of his life with the palestinian situation and he appears to be taking hi cue from president obama's speech at the u.n. on monday asking the world to come together to sort out the palestine/israeli situation. he's writing a piece in the huffington post this morning where he's calling for -- the most important thing is in recent weeks he's potentially going to drop a bombshell at this general assembly speech in afternoon. people that have seen the script are suggesting the bombshell may not be as big as that suggests, and that may be after pressure from the american side. he was talking about possibly tearing up the oslo peace accords of 1993 and 1995, because they were supposed to lead to a palestinian state by now.

of course, that has not happened. in recent weeks he talked about the possibility of dissolving the palestinian authority, and that will put the onus on israel to look after the people that live in the west bank or even possibly doing something else fairly radical, which we might find out this afternoon when he addresses. now, here's what he had to the huffington post today. he says, israel is not dedicated to the international community's values of freedom and justice, let alone the two-state solution. it has trampled the oslo accord and with it the peace process. that would appear to be an indication that he's thinking of not supporting the twin-state solution anymore and go to a single solution. abbas speaks later this afternoon. >> john, there will be a ceremony for the raising of the palestinian flag at the u.n. headquarters this afternoon. why is it so symbolic and controversial? >> reporter: the united nations changed the rules recently. up until this moment the flags outside the building have been

of member nations. the palestinians are not members of the united nations because they don't have a country, but they do have observer status. those rules have changed, and today the palestinians will raise their flag for the first time. it's right down at the end very close to the famous library on the right of the screen at the moment. they were going to have a ceremony to raise the flag because to the palestinians raising a flag like this is enormously symbolic and significant. now, we're waiting to see whether that actually goes ahead, because the weather is so bad here in new york, they can't have a ceremony around the flagpole where the flag will actually be because there's no room in between the building and flagpole. they're going to move it just for today for a more central location. we have as soon as if abbas and other dignitaries attend that ceremony this morning. there are other observant nations of the united nations. the vatican is key among them.

they raise their flag, but they have not had a ceremony. they did that a couple of days ago when the pope was in town. stephanie. >> john, thank you. also happening today, secretary john kerry will meet his russian counterpart sergei lavrov to talk about syria presumably. in ten minutes wi go back to the issue of palestine with diana butu joins us about the status of talks and the importance of flying that flag at the united nations. the vatican is not confirming or denying that kim davis met with the pope last week in washington. the kentucky clerk is talking. >> i put my hand out, and he reached and grabbed it. i hugged him, and he hugged me. he said, thank you for your courage. >> davis says the two spoke for about ten minutes at the vatican embassy and that the holy see has pictures of the meeting. her attorney says pope francis presented dafs and her husband with rosary beads.

davis was jailed earlier in month because she refused to issue marriage licenses. a bill should be on the president's desk by midnight. it's expected to pass the house and senate today. it does not defund planned parenthood, a demand some republicans were making. the head of planned parenthood was on capitol hill tuesday defending the group saying more than 2 million women use the health care services every year. the u.s. is reportedly pulling intelligence agents from china. it's in the wake of a hacking attack on the u.s. office of personnel management. that cyber attack compromised the data of about 22 million government workers. the u.s. suspects chinese hackers were behind the breach. less than 24 hours after joining twitter, edward snowden this morning has almost 1 million followers. his first tweet yesterday was, can you hear me now? snowden has been living under

asylum in russia. he faces charges in the u.s. that could land him in prison for 30 years. another outbreak of legionnaires disease in new york. what health officials are pointing to this time as the possible source. concerns over calcium supplements. it might be doing you more harm than good.

in just a few hours the palestinian flag will be raised outside the u.n. headquarters for the first time. palestinian authority president ab because will address the general assembly this afternoon. he's expected for a call to direct negotiations with israel. diana, thank you so much for

your time. the plight of the palestinian refugees seems to have been replaced on the world stage by the plight of the syrian refugee. what can mr. abbas say today to bring the palestinian issue back to the fore? >> i think that what he needs to do is he not only needs to renounce the failed oslo agreements, but i think that beyond that he needs to declare that the two-state framework is not something that has ever worked and will never work and instead call for international involvement to finally put sanctions on israel to end its military rule over palestinians and the palestinian land and to simply call for one state. this is something that he has been unwilling to do, because he wants to remain president. i think if he's going to be honest about what is happening over the course of the past 23 years while he's been sitting

negotiating, he'll very quickly understand that the situation of palestinians has gotten worse. mostly it's because the world's attention is shifted elsewhere and instead of focusing on what's happening on the ground, they seem to be focusing on fictitious negotiations. >> in a poll out last week for the first time a majority of palestinians surveyed said they oppose a two-state solution because they no longer think it's viable. should two states still be the overarching objective of a peace process? >> no, it should not. if you look at what's happened on the ground and what is currently happening right now, it's not only impossible to have two states, because of the more than 500,000 -- actually, more than 600,000 illegal israeli settlers living in palestinian land, but beyond that, this does not address the needs and the

rights of palestinians. palestinians aren't simply people who hail from the west bank or from the gaza strip. we come from towns like nazareth, haifa and jaffa and other places and the idea of creating two states is to get rid of palestinians and put them on as little territory as possible while ignoring the rights of millions of palestinian refugees. the two-state framework will never be a solution, and instead, what should be focusing on is the end of inequality. there should be a focus on freedom and the end of apar tide. like there was a focus in south africa and nobody thought it was viable to stick people in one or another, so, too. the focus here should be on israeli apar tide and live in freedom. president obama during his u.n. speech didn't even mention the issue of palestinian. president abbas now favors a peace process that's more akin to what we recently saw in the

nuclear deal brokered with iran. in other words, talking involving many world powers. is that a new idea? >> it is a new idea. it's also not a new idea. it's new in that this is the first time that president has called for this, but it's old because palestinians as far back as 1948 have been calling for international involvement. they've been pushing for sanctions. they've been pushing for a boycott of israel, and unfortunately, the world has remained silent. so this is something that is interesting to see that this president, somebody who believed only in bilateral talks, is now pushing for a multi-lateral approach. i really hope that he stands by this and signing on to the groying boycott sanctions movement and begins to push to hold israel accountable for the various war crimes. >> thank you for your perspective joining us from

haifa. the battle against isil and other groups will be back on the agenda today at the u.n. russia is chairing a meeting on that topic. on tuesday president obama and other world leaders sat down to discuss ways to stop extremism. senior washington correspondent mike viqueira has more. >> reporter: the subject was countering isil. convening a united nations kwefrngs of more than 100 countries. president obama said the fight would be long, but the outcome is not in doubt. >> by terrorists and tyrants throughout history, isil will eventually lose because it has nothing to offer but suffering and death. >> reporter: it's the short term now in question. russia's sudden move to support al assad with military might caught the white house by surprise. the open clash between mr. obama and vladimir putin in duelling speeches at the general assembly changed the equation. monday night a meeting of the two leaders went overtime but yielded no concrete results. speaking later, putin said

russian forces will attack isil, but putin rejected calls for assad to go. >> translator: i relate to my colleagues the american and french presidents with great respect, but they aren't citizens of syria so they shouldn't be involve in chooeding the leadership of another country. it is syria's business. >> reporter: they're concerned only about losing the last toehold in the middle east. this as president obama acknowledged set backs but insisted that sdiet isil's continued hold on marriage iraqi cities like mosul and ramadi there were signs of progress in the fight. >> iraqi forces have liberated towns along kirkuk prof sxins tikrit. isil lost a third of the populated areas in iraq that it had control. >> reporter: the president's own commanders call the fight against isil a state mail. as the air campaign enters the second year, iraq's prime

minister repeated his call for more international help to fight isil. france is renewing calls for a no-fly zone over syria, but the white house rejected that idea as unworkable. mcviqueira, al jazeera, washington. >> we have continuing coverage throughout the day. an oregon man on the run for more than two decades has been arrested. paul irvin jackson was taken into custody in guadalajara on monday. he was detained in 1990 accused in the rape and torture of two women. for many families the old-fashioned phone call is the only way to stay in touch. we have more on the cozy relationship between phone companies and prisons that critics say is fleecing families. >> reporter: of year on their birthdays, bethany frazier's boys looked forward to a special phone call. one that would often have her running to pick it up. the voice on the other end

belonged to their father calling for a maryland prison where he served time for hitting and killing a man driving drunk. how important was it for you to have your kids being able to talk to their father even though he wasn't here? >> over time i realized how important it was for everybody to stay connected. again for me if the kids are my core concern, they needed to know that, hey, i do have a dad. he's not here. he cares about me. what he did has nothing to do with me. >> bethany did everything she could to keep her family connected. her youngest was just two when the accident happened, and she didn't want her son to forget his dad while he paid the price for his crime. what she didn't realize is the price she would pay to keep them in touch. how much money do you think you spent in total? >> i easily could have spent $500 a month. >> bethany isn't alone. there are 2.2 million in prisons and jails, all potential

customers for the $1.2 billion prison industry, an industry accused of price gouging and unfairly taking advantage of the ultimate captive market. peter wagner is the xekt active director of prison policy initiative. he blames a sweetheart relationship between service providers and jails and prisons for the high prices. telephone companies pay jails and prisons hundreds of millions of dollars in commissions in return for exclusive contracts. >> commissions? that's a polite word for a kickback. these commissions can be 50%, 70%, 90% of the cost of the call goes back to the facility that gave the contract. >> sheriff's like virginia's dana lawhorn are speaking out defending the commissions they receive. >> all that money goes to jail operations. >> reporter: he says his facility receiving $150,000 in commissions each year, that pays for basic inmate services like

tvs and microwaves, but also the high cost of monitoring inmate phone calls. >> people are known to run, you kn know, murder-for-hire cases out of jail. it's not just somebody sitting around making a telephone call back home to mom. there are people making many, many different calls to many, many different people not always for the right reasons. >> reporter: earlier in year bethany's husband was released from prison. today he's doing his best to reconnect. even though she's no longer paying for calls, bethany hopes her fight for what she says is fair will make an impact for another family in the future. >> are you ready? >> yeah. >> al jazeera, maryland. >> you can see more of laurie's reports on "america tonight" which airs at 10:00 p.m. eastern on al jazeera america. migration is changing politics in florida. we look at the power of the puerto rican vote and how it could be a game changer in the

2016 presidential election. a queen in a king's tomb. why some believe secret doors may unravel the mystery of king tut's final resting place.

welcome back to al jazeera america. it's 8:30 eastern. looking at today's top stories. a u.n. security council counterterrorism summit begins in a few minutes on the sidelines of the u.n. general assembly. sergei lavrov will host the meeting a day after president obama chaired a similar session. abbas will speak before the general assembly this morning as the palestinian flag flies over the u.n. for the first time. russia has carried out the

first air strike in syria near the city of homs. overnight putin received the go-ahead from his parliament to deploy. he said the goal is to help the assad government file isil. we're now on the ground near a strategic afghan city that fell to the taliban this week. u.s. special forces is among them. afghan forces fight to retake the city of kunduz in the north. overnight the u.s. conducted another air strike on taliban positions, this time aiming for the kunduz airport. the state of georgia has executed its only female death row inmate. kelly renee gissendaner was put to death just after midnight. her family fought to appeal her execution, but a last-minute request was denied. witnesses say she was singing "amazing grace" during her final moments. despite flaws in the system and a plea from the pope, there are some fighting for america's death penalty to continue.

>> he's walked freely for more than a decade. time has done little to soften his outrage. he spent 18 years on louisiana's death row, wrongly convicted of murder. >> you watch them execute people for real. you don't need cruel and unusual punishme punishment, that is it. waiting for them to kill you for something you didn't do. i'm on death row in louisiana. >> he's one of ten men exonerated from death sentences in the past 30 years. crucial dna evidence was discovered a few weeks before his scheduled execution. sister helen prejohn, a roman catholic nun and author of "dead man walking" says cases like thompson highlight a broken and biased system, one that led the catholic church to re-emphasize the long-standing position to capital punishment. >> eight out of every ten times the death penalty is given is because a white person was killed. when people of color are killed,

it's negligible. >> speaking before congress pope francis called for an end to executions. >> i also offer encouragement to close doors that aren't just and let society's punishment must never include the dimension of hope and the goal of rehabilitation. >> reporter: the death penalty is still legal in 31 states, although the number of executions in the u.s. is at a 20-year low. the number of death sentences have dropped dramatically in the past ten years. that's not the trend in salif port, louisiana whering district attorney dale cox find z his catholic faith and personal belief as odds. he said the death penalty should be used more and not less particularly when the children and elderly are killed. >> if you think that the heinousness of this crime is so

bad that society deserves the right to pass judgment on the sentence, then you go forward and you seek it. >> reporter: in fact, cox is responsible for securing more than a third of louisiana's death sentences in the past five years. despite louisiana's history of wrongful convictions, cox says he can't let past mistakes keep him from doing his job. >> you take the oath to enforce the law. if you can't do it, get out of the job. that's the answer. does that put me at odds with the roman catholic church's position on the death penalty? yes, it does. as a catholic, that is a cause of concern for my soul. it is something that i pray about. i cannot violate my oath of office. >> john thompson hopes the pontiff's message about capital

punishment will force law enforcements and presidential candidates to talk about the issue that for him isn't political but deeply personal. this morning parts of virginia are cleaning up after being hit by flash floods. some roads looked like rivers as sewer systems and creeks overflowed. water levels reached 7 feet high in some areas. let's bring in nicole mitchell for more. >> good morning. a rough couple of days from the mid-atlantic through the northeast. this was part of the moisture that initially inundated the south and part of the front that moved through the midwest. all of it funneled together making for a wet mess in many places this morning. widespread reports of 1, 2, 3 inches and some higher reports of 5 inches in a couple of places around massachusetts. a lot of region through the northeast is under flood watches and a couple flood warnings out there as well. this will last us for a few days because the front doesn't go anywhere fast. the northeast is more of the

heavy rain today and lingers along the coastline and looks like it will reinvigorate for the mid-atlantic on friday. chances across the region for multiple days. this goes out the next three days. you see closer to the coastline is where we get the most. that widespread three to five inches but a couple spots 6 inches and 8 inches and a few spots get more than that. then the more interior you get, the less likely, but it's going to be messy. i'm flying on friday. i'm not looking forward to how travel might be over the next couple of days. in the meantime, behind that we have some cold air moving in. that's going to change things for us as well. so we already have temperatures like 30 degrees in thunder bay this morning. we started to see more freeze watches and warnings up in the morning especially in northern parts of the midwest, and this will change the forecast for places in the east coast too as the front coming through. already today chicago tropping into the 60s, hanging on one more day in 70s and 80s for a

lot of the mid-section of the eastern coastline, but new york, for example, drops almost 10 degrees into that forecast for tomorrow once we get on the backside of that front. then, of course, we've had big news to watch. not only are we wet this week, but the potential for next week. this is hurricane joaquin right now meandering in the bahamas for the next three days. after that it could be an impact for the united states. >> all right. we'll keep our eye on that. nicole mitchell, thank you. a fourth batch of hillary clinton's e-mails are due to be released today. some 6,000 pages of e-mails from the private server will be made public under court order. about a quarter of the e-mails have been released since a january deadline. nearly 200 are deemed to classify information, though clinton disputes whether they were classified at the time that the e-mails were sent. puerto rican officials are in washington this morning urging lawmakers to take action on the island's debt crisis.

it's also pushing puerto rico citizens to come to the mainland. as robert ray reports, it presents an unexpected opportunity to change politics. >> reporter: when puerto ricans arrive in florida, many are greeted by a nonprofit that registered latino voters. >> they know it's important to go out and vote. >> reporter: especially for families like this the torreses, who left the island for the orlando area just two months ago and have already registered and picked a candidate. and that's because torres thinks the democrats care more about people making a low wage, which he currently does whooshiorking custodian as disneyworld. >> puerto rico is a commonwealth of the u.s. citizens cannot vote for the president on the island, but once they come here and pick up residence in kissimmee, florida, they can vote for the president

of the united states. that's why there's a big push in the florida town. as u.s. citizens puerto ricans can easily register to vote and are getting an unpress dented amount of attention from presidential campaigns. that's because they could change the electoral outcome in a state that president obama won by the slimmest of margins in 2012. 50% to just 49.1%. >> we have a million inhabitants now in florida. how many of those translate to voters, i'm not sure. you have to think about 400,000. >> reporter: political salsa, a major event educating puerto rican voters is a brainchild of anthony suarez, a former florida state representative. he says never underestimate the vote of the thousands of puerto ricans migrates to the mainland. so this movement is going to continue and pick up speed particularly in this purple state of florida where you have all these thousands of

uncommitted voters. you see a lot of money thrown into trying to reach this community to see what is the overall election. >> reporter: suarez says what people don't realize is that many puerto ricans don't affiliate themselves with republicans or democrats. they vote purely on the message. >> i believe that puerto ricans are more interested or more concentrated on jobs and the economy. that's the reason you see them fleeing the iland. >> reporter: it's the biggest movement of people out of puerto rico since the great migration of the 1950s and a potential game changer in the 2016 presidential election. florida is about to surpass new york as the state with the most residents from puerto rico. robert ray, al jazeera, kissimmee, florida. back to one of our top stories. as we've been reporting, u.s. military advisers are now on the ground near a strategic afghan city that fell to the taliban this week.

u.s. special forces are reportedly among them. afghan forces are fighting to retake the city of kunduz in the country's north. i want to talk more about this with the director of the center for afghan research and studies and engijoins us from kabul thi morning. it was a few months that the taliban leader was confirmed dead and a new leader was named. is the take-over of kunduz a sign that the taliban is res resurgent under this new leader? >> they won an important victory to prove that the leadership transition was smooth despite some challenges within the taliban leadership and some commanders inside afghanistan and have proven that they are capable of continuing fighting in afghanistan.

this is a big setback for the afghan government, and then it's an embarrassment for the afghan president because just on the day of the anniversary of the national unity government, we lost an important subject the city to the taliban which no one thought before the taliban would be able to take over a major population center in afghanistan and far away from the pakistani borders in northern afghanistan. >> is it also an embarrassment to the obama administration's policy? these afghan troops are trained and equipped by the united states. u.s. troops only withdrew from afghanistan nine months ago, and now you have the taliban with their first strategy victory in 14, 15 years. >> well, indeed. the afghan security forces have shown some great improvements since last year when there was full security transition from

nato and american forces to the afghan forces. unfortunately, what happened in kunduz has nothing to do with the willingness and capacity of the security forces. it has more to do with leadership. they both failed at the provinceal and national level in kabul, and this is something that the afghan government has to fix. the afghan security forces have been fighting bravely. the number of of casualties are very, very high, and they have not abandoned their positions because there was chaos in kunduz. in that chaos they lost commanding control. they didn't know what to do. so why they retreated, most of them to the airport in the outskirts of kunduz city. >> my understanding is that kunduz was a taliban stronghold. it was one of the last cities to fall during the coalition invasion of iraq. should we be concerned, though, that the taliban repeats this in

other cities? >> yes, indeed. i think kunduz could be a precursor for the taliban, because now other cities and towns and risky areas are also risky because now people are afraid that any city could fall in the hands of taliban. people have lost their trust in the afghan government. it's so important. this is why the american forces intervened in kunduz here either with an adviser with the special forces and particularly with the air force not to allow the taliban to dig in in kunduz and continue with this in other parts of afghanistan. it's important for the afghan government to take back kunduz as soon as possible and to show that that was a case and this could not be related anywhere in the country. >> do you have a sense of how high the stakes are for afghans

that do not want to see a return of taliban rule? >> well, indeed, i think the afghan people in general, they're afraid of falling back into chaos of the 1990s and particularly whether the taliban took over afghanistan. one of the reasons why afghans overwhelmingly voted for the security agreement between the united states and afghanistan during that, even the former president opposed, is that the afghan people want the presence of the u.s. and other nato forces in afghanistan because we don't want to fall back into the chaos of 1990s and bloodshed and internal fighting. it's very important for us to receive the support from the united states and other nato countries during this crucial time because the government is weak and the leadership is in disarray. we need some crucial support to

show that the security forces are intact fighting the taliban. >> thank you so much for your perspective live from kabul. acourt in india sentenced five men to death for bomb attacks on commuter training in mumbai. 180 people were killed in 2006 when a series of bombs exploded on packed training during the evening rush hour. it was carried out by groups linked to pakistan. saudi authorities and for help in identifying those that died in this year's hajj. police distributed nearly 1100 photos to foreign diplomats. saudi officials say the photos are not just of the 769 people killed in the stampede, but they also include other unidentified pill fwrgrims that died in the few weeks including some of the 111 people killed in a crane collapse at mecca's grand mosque. japan's prime minister says he will pitch in to help refugees in the middle east.

shinzo abe said he will provide $810 million in aid and that including money to pay for infrastructure in iraq and other war-torn countries in the region. yesterday 19 countries including the u.s. announced a $1.8 billion fund to pay for refugee efforts. convinces children to learn a new language can be a struggle, but one native-american group found a new way to pass on their heritage. we show you how it works. >> reporter: this 7-year-old is deadly serious about her video games. >> wait, wait. follow my lead, okay? hold it! >> whoa. nice. good job, team. but during the countless hours on her xbox, she's not shooting anyone. >> that's an object. that's what you call it. >> she's battling a blizzard. >> your spirit box. >> communicating with spirits. >> you save me a pallbearer,

duh. >> she's trying to protect her people playing a game called never alone based on a legend of a group of native alaskans that live beyond the arctic circle. an orphan girl has to overcome a series of obstacles to discover what's causing the never-end snowstorm. it's a collaboration between several alaskan native groups using today's technology to interest a younger generation in their own culture. the game introduces that culture to a wider audience. >> one day over lunch about three and a half years ago i'm sitting with other team, and we said, why not video games? why not use the greatest asset that we have, our people, our stories, our culture. >> the game is based on this place. this is barrow, alaska, the largest of a series of villages above the arctic circle. their consult ndur, their stories are based on a life

drawn from whaling, from caribou, from a subsistent life in many ways slipping away. this is an expert in the language. he narrates "never alone." is the culture and language in danger in your opinion? >> the way that we live was in the language, and that's going to be gone. >> he said the game could help to preserve a language spoken about only 2,000 of the 15,000 remaining in alaska. >> maybe playing the game would make them interested enough to get really serious about living that way. >> are you guys satisfied? >> yes. we'll make our money back. >> good work. >> not only will we make money, but we had huge impact in the world, huge impact in the industry. >> what is that? >> a polar bear. >> what?

? >> for her father, nook, the fact that yt never alone" is sparking his daughter's interest in her culture is all that matters. >> there's a better way to communicate a message to a certain audience like kids, you know. they like video games, and they can actually learn something from it and have fun doing it. yeah, i think we're doing an awesome job. >> it's actually cool. >> jacob ward, al jazeera, barrow, alaska. twitter may be changing its tune on its 140-character limit. the social media service is working on a product to allow users to share longer messages as a plan to increase usage. it's unclear what the new product will look like. several other companies offer a way to post longer twitter messages but require you to go to their websites to see them. ralph lauren is giving up some control at his iconic label. the 75-year-old is passing on his title as ceo to old navy

president stefan larsson, but he will stay on as executive chairman and chief executive office. he founded the label in 1967. we may known if egypt's convene neve teet tee is beared nut same tomb as king tut. they have found three chamers inside the painted walls. they will conduct radar inspections of the site and release results in november. one theory is king tut was actually buried in an outer chamber of what was nefertiti's tomb. we've heard milk does a body good. too much calcium could be bad for you. the new finding over supplements. a fluorescent find in the ocean's depths. it's a turtle that's turning heading because it glows.

the united auto workers union is prepared to strike at ford's f-150 plant. ford and workers have been at odds over details of a new collective bargaining agreement. if they don't reach a deal, the kansas city plant will shut down by the end of the week. around 7500 uaw workers would walk off the job. the f-150 is the best selling truck in america. for the second time this year, dutch investigators have raided uber's european headquarters in amsterdam as part of a criminal investigation into whether the company is offering illegal taxi services. the dutch have fined uber more than $500,000 for using unlicensed drivers for the low-cost service. in paris the trial began today for two twitter executives -- excuse me. uber executives accused on similar charges. officials in new york are searching for the source of a new legionnaires outbreak. they confirmed three more cases in the bronx.

seven cooling towers ♪ same neighborhood test positive for the bacteria. it's not clear if the latest cases are connected to an outbreak in july that led to 16 deaths. doctors have long told patients to get more calcium as they age. it was called the best way to prevent fractures. two new studies say supplements are not always helpful and may be harmful. randall pinkston is here with more. >> the thing to know is if you're on calcium supplements, talk to your doctor before you make any move notwithstanding these studies where researchers have found that getting calcium through your normal diet is enough. as people age, they are at higher risk for fractures. it's why doctors have long recommended adding more calcium to a patient's diet through dairy-rich food like milk, cheese and yogurt. people are encouraged to take

supplements to avoid osteoporosis later in life. two new studies question that advice. new zealand scientists looked at diet and supplements and how they affect bone health in men and women over 50. they found increasing calcium intake produced a small 1% to 2% increase in bone density. the conclusion? that amount is unlikely to lead to a meaningful reduction in fracture risk. they say daumeadults need 700 milligrams of calcium today which can be achieved with a normal diet of dairy rich foods or vegetables. in the u.s. they promote at least 1200 milligrams of calcium for women over 50 plus 800 to 1,000 milligrams of vitamin d, and that's rarely achieved through diet alone. many women take calcium

supplements of some kind, but there's safety concerns. they're shown to double the risk of a heart attack. professor michaelson from sweden says most will not benefit from increasing their intakes and will be exposed instead to a higher risk of adverse events such as constipation, cardiovascular events, kidney stones or admission to the hospital. professor michaelson suggested the profitable of the global supplements industry probably plays it's part in some advice to take supplements. at least one u.s. panel said in the past supplements may increase the risk of fractures. >> thank you. scientists are glowing today over a new type of turtle. it's the first biofluorescent reptile known to man found in the solomon islands. it doesn't actually glow but reflects other light underwater and can show up green, red, or orange. that's it for us here in

new york. i'm stephanie sy. thank for watching, and have a great day.

this is al jazeera. hello there. welcome to the news hour live from our headquarters in doha. coming up in the next 60 minutes, the u.s. says russia has begun air strikes in syria after lawmakers in moscow approved the military action. afghan forces send reinforcements to retake kunduz, the first major city captured by the taliban since 2001. >> every time i was here, i paid