despite the new threat from poachers to their traditional way of living. and a reminder that you can keep up to date with all of the news all the time on our website, aljazeera.com. ♪ president obama travels to roseberg, oregon to meet with families of the shooting victims at umpqua community college. the pentagon is changing its program to train syrian fighters. and crop concerns, how flood waters are taking their toll on farmers in south carolina. ♪

this is al jazeera america live from new york city. i'm stephanie sy. president obama is on his way to oregon, where he will meet with victims and families of last week's umpqua community college shooting. the president has been making a passionate call for gun control after that shooting, but he is expected to stay away from political talk today. gun rights activists are planning a protest. aaron alexis -- and as allen schauffler reports there is pushback. >> reporter: you will find community strength on signs all over this town. at a local tattoo shop it takes this form. a body art fund raiser that has put more than $5,000 in a fund

for victims. >> we can't even understand fully what has happened. everyone has the need to act and participate. >> reporter: at the community college, the classroom building where nine people were murdered is still sealed off. near the entrance to the school, flags and flowers on a fence honor the victims. small stones spell out hope, unity, and love on the sidewalk, but that unity is cracking with the pressure of a presidential visit and angry local reaction-to-states from president obama on the state of the shooting. several facebook pages are calling for demonstrations, hoping to put thousands of protesters in the streets. organizers behind one site tell us they have been overwhelmed by the response. many residents tell us flatly this is a gun town.

what was your reaction? >> that's what caused me to make the statement that i made, that mr. president you are not welcome here for those purposes and under those circumstances. >> reporter: many here have told us they are honored to have the president in town if his focus is on the families and not the politics. a statement has been issued making it clear they will welcome the president and offer him every courtesy. >> i'm a gun rights believer and i like to have my president here. ♪ to save a wretch like me >> this man helped organize a candlelight vigil the night of the shootings. but the charged debate about gun control, gun rights and the president's visit is up setting.

>> maybe it wasn't the best time for him to come. maybe it is. i'm not the one to answer that, you know what i mean. >> reporter: it stirred up quite a storm. >> yeah, and people are angry. people are happy about it. i -- i just don't -- i just see it as this isn't the right time. >> reporter: three people remain hospitalized. the community college is scheduled to reopen on monday. allen schauffler, al jazeera, roseberg, oregon. we're following a developing story out of arizona this morning. one person is dead and three others hurt following a shooting at northern arizona university campus. >> campus is secure. we are sensitive to the tragedy, and we're asking the faculty to be sensitive to the needs of our students and their family. this is not going to be a normal day. >> the shooter, a college freshman is in custody. they say he got into a fight

with other students when he pulled out a gun and opened fire. the obama administration is overhauling its program to train and equip moderate syrian rebels. defense secretary ash carter says the $500 million pentagon effort has failed to produce real results. >> i wasn't satisfied with the early efforts in that regard, so we're looking at different ways to achieve, basically the same kind of strategic objective, which is the right one, which is to enable capable motivated forces on the ground. >> but carter says the u.s. has been able to work well with kurdish fighters in syria. let's get more from rosiland jordan live for us in washington. good morning. the pentagon has just issued statement, i understand. >> that's right. the spokesperson has just issued a statement saying the train and equip program is no longer going to focus on recruiting and

basically putting through boot camp vetted syrian moderated who are interested in fighting against isil. instead what the u.s. military is now going to do is identify groups that already exist, such as kurdish fighters, and provide them with equipment so that they can actually take the fight to isil. now this is a big change, because the u.s. congress has put aside a half billion dollars over three years for the u.s. military to train some 15,000 syrian rebels. well, basically, they have trained fewer than a hundred, and the first unit, about 54 men basically fell apart, dropped their equipment, and ran when they were deplayed in 2015. the second group, well, their leader basically turned over his weapons and said he wasn't going to try to fight. so this was basically a program that fell apart almost from the very beginning, and the obama

administration is admitting that its efforts to try to build from scratch a standing army to fight isil just wasn't working. >> wasn't this one of the cornerstones of the obama administration's strategy on syria? >> well, it was one of what they call fine lines of effort. a military component along with the u.s.-lead coalition which is conducting air strikes overiraq and syria. but they said this was not the primary component of trying to defeat isil. this also involves financial sanctions, counter come communications, counter terrorismwork, a lot of other efforts that the u.s. and its coalition partners have been focused on, but clearly any time you involve the u.s. military it does get an outsized amount of attentio attention. >> this is happening a week after russia began a military campaign in syria to bolster the

regime of bashar al-assad. is there a perception in washington that today's announcement gives the impression that the u.s. is scaling back in some ways while russia is stepping up its military presence in syria? >> i don't think there is that calculation. there had been growing concerns about the effectiveness of the training and quipping program for moderate syrian rebels even before the russians ramped up their military involvement inside syria. just about a month ago, the members of the -- of sentcom and the pentagon were facing a lot of tough questions on capitol hill, because of the lack of success with the train and equip program. >> okay. rosiland jordan for us in washington. rosland, thank you. earlier i spoke with retired air force colonel who lead intelligence missions in the

middle east, he said the overhaul is coming too late. >> i don't think the train and equip program was a good program with and so the way in which they were training those syrian fighters and the whole process there was flawed from the start. so it is a good idea to stop that program. however, stopping that program has come a little bit too late. as far as russia is concerned, russia is trying to determine the facts on the ground, but they too are hampered by the reality on the ground. they -- they will not be able to -- by themselves change what is happening there, so they are going to be in a position of being drawn into the syrian conflict, but they are not going to be able to determine by themselves the outcome. they may be able to have a big voice in it, but that will depend on what iran does. it will depend on what the assad regime can do, and it will depend on what isis does in

response. >> he says that the u.s. needs to coordinate with russia in the fight against isil. palestinian have been skilled and dozens more injured today in clashes along the israeli gaza border. more than 20 people have now died in this spike in violence over the last week. hoda abdel hamid is live ramallah. what is the latest there, hoda? >> reporter: well, the confrontation has been going on for hours now. actually as you said, ever since the funeral of that young palestinian who actually died six days ago. just behind me, if the camera can zoom in, you can see there is a standoff going on. in the background, israeli forces dressed in dark suits and

in the forefront are several palestinian youth. in that has been going on for a while. the bulk of the youth, however are on this side. and so we have been witnessing throughout the day this wave going back and forth, israeli forces approaching palestinian youth, palestinian youth retreating, then palestinian youth pushing forward, israeli forces also retreating. we have also seen them close in on the palestinian from 2 roads, the road down here, and then the road up there. israel forces have been using live ammunition, we have heard that throughout the day, and we have heard the pops of what seemed like rubber-coated steel bullets that are often used, and a lot of tear gas, but that has stopped probably because the israelis are now up wind, so most of the tear gas has gone in

their direction. and they have been obliged to pull back at a certain point because of the gas. we know in hebron and jerricho, and bethlehem this has been going on as well. >> we have just gotten in this some statistics that say 134 palestinians have already been injured by live ammunition since september 28th. so that is part of the israeli security forces response. hoda what more can you tell us about the violence on the israeli border with gaza? >> reporter: well, talking about live ammunition, i don't know if you can hear the pops as we speak at the moment. what happened is that in gaza -- and this is probably the first time since this latest crisis has started, that the youth have decided to go out as well and protest in solidarity

to what is happening in the west bank. so what we understand a group of maybe 200 young palestinian had gone to the border between eastern gaza and southern israel. the scene is probably very similar to what i have described of what is going on here. but the [ inaudible ] is quite dramatic, as we understand it so far five palestinians have died and clashes are going on. this is creating a lot of tension among palestinians. two days ago i was again here at the junction watching the clashes, and i have to say between two days ago and now, not only are there more youth joining in, the determination is bigger, and the intensity of the clashes are increasing. >> and we continue to hear that live fire behind you.

hoda thank you. flooding fears in south carolina has waters flow to the ocean. communities on the coast are on high alert. and union leaders will vote on a tentative deal to keep thousands of fiat chrysler leaders on the job. blavm

the nobel committee has made a strong statement in favor of democracy in the arab world this morning. it awarded the peace prize to

the tunisian national dialogue quartet. a group of four organizations that helped smooth the political process. it cited the group for its efforts towards peace following the 2011 revolution. >> it was thus instrumental in enabling tunisia in a space of a few years, to establish a constitutional system of government, guaranteeing fundamental rights for the entire population, irrespective of gender, political conviction or religious belief. nicklas is director of tunis exchange. he told al jazeera there are mixed reactions in tunisia to news of the award. >> they will be debating in these comes days, whether or not the stated purpose of the nobel committee which was to award

islamist and secularist successful cooperation, whether or not that is served by giving the nobel peace prize to four ngo's that were intermediaries rather than the actual actor who had to go to the streets for protests, and work out bargains in the parliament. so i'm wondering if it is actually the right place for this sort of award. that's a question. either way, i think everyone is in agreement here that tunisia deserves an award, and it deserves a nobel prize. it has struggled. it has made incredible gains in a very difficult situation, and it is one of the few success stories of the arab revolts of the last few years. but should the political actors and the people that elected them, should they be the awardees. that's the question. >> german chancellor angela

merkel and pope francis were considered the favorites for this year. more danger this morning in south carolina where residents along the most are being urged to evacuate. georgetown, county, south of myrtle beach is expected to start flooding this morning. ines ferre is there. >> reporter: it will be weeks and months before some of these areas are cleaned up. you can see some flood waters over the last few days they had even more. so a lot of these businesses are still recovering from the floods. and one of the businesses which is suffering is the farming industry here in south carolina. they have lost more than $300 million over the last few days. >> this is no good. >> reporter: third generation farmer john began the summer praying for rain. by the end of the season he was praying for it to stop. >> we were already hit hard from

a drought earlier in the year, and now the water is causing us not to be able to get in the fields to do the harvest nch >> reporter: his peanuts are still underground where they will likely rot in the mud. the skies are blue today, but the drenching rains ruined the crop. >> this is a normal bowl of cotton, and this is one that has been effected by the rain. this is not harvestable. this is. >> reporter: all types of farming has taken a hit here. even live poultry has suffered. and for some farms the situation will only get worse. what looks like a lake is actually farm land covered in water, so much of it this road could no longer hold it back. >> the devastation is there. basically agriculture will be shut down for a few weeks until the soil dries.

>> reporter: john says he is not looking for handouts, but he'll have to take out loans to make up for the nearly 700,000 hit. do you have crop insurance? >> i do. but it will not cover all of your losses. it will help, but it's not -- not a savior. >> reporter: while farming is in his blood, at times like this, he wishes his sons hadn't followed him into the family business. >> i just think there is an easier way to make a living than this. >> reporter: do you think it's going to be a tough road for them? >> yes, i do. >> reporter: why so? >> well, just because of the weather and different things seem to be more severe now than it used to be. >> reporter: either too wet or too dry. the governor of south carolina asking people to heed the warning over the next 24 hours, especially in the low country,

near the swelling rivers. she is saying to people, look, we understand that this is your property, these are your belongings, but if you are asked to evacuate, please go. >> reporter: ines ferre reporting from georgetown. the city of charleston in south carolina is urging residents to conservative water because of infrastructure damage there. leaders of the united auto works union are meeting in the next few hours to meet with the executives of fiat chrysler. an earlier agreement was approved by union leaders, but voted down by workers. republicans push paul ryan to become speaker of the house, but he keeps saying no. the pressure on the former vice presidential candidate to take the top job.

>> every saturday night. >> i lived that character. >> g

♪ one of the men who thwarted a train attack in france last month is recovering in a hospital this morning after being stabbed outside of a bar. he was stabbed in the chest four times early on thursday morning in sacramento, california. police say he was out with friends when a fight broke out. back in august he was injured when he and several others stopped a gunman on a train in paris. republicans met today to find new candidates to run for speaker, and they are pushing

for paul ryan to return. ryan has repeatedly said he is not interested. >> i know a lot of speculation about who should run and others. paul is looking at it, but it's his decision. if he decides to do it, he would be an amazing speaker. >> the only other people in the race are jason chafet and daniel webster. jonathan martin reports the cost to the federal government and residents is huge. >> reporter: in this new orleans restaurant nothing is as unreliable as the water these days. >> this has been happening so much lately. >> reporter: twice recently two of the city's main water pumps shut down. causing a drop in pressure.

he has had to spend hundreds of dollars buying bottled water and ice. >> something has to be done about it, because it's just -- it's a headache. >> reporter: this problem isn't new in new orleans. there have been at least ten boil water advisories in the past five years. the most recent interruption happened after pumps lost power. mark davis says the root of the problem is chronic neglect of century's old infrastructure. >> that's really what we're seeing is the fraying of that system, and when you don't invest in it, you don't maintain it, at some point it comes back and bites you. >> reporter: in new orleans the problem got worse after hurricane katrina. >> all of that water that came in and filled the city, added weight, and that breaks pipes, that really is tough on the

infrastructure that you have. >> reporter: after the storm crews plugged some of the biggest leaks, but new orleans still loses 40% of its drinking water a day. >> part of the deal -- >> reporter: cedrick grant runs the water board. >> we're at the end of being able to survive on our 19th century infrastructure. it hasn't been touched in 40 or 50 years. >> reporter: along with new pumps and turbines he says next year the city plans to add a pair of water towers to keep the system pressurized. the company that runs the upgrades says it recommended an upgrade two years ago, but

nothing was done. the improvements will come at a huge cost, $3 billion, more than $700 million is being passed on to customers. water bills will increase 10% each year for the next six years. for jordan, it's a price he says he is willing to pay if the long-term fix means safer water and fewer interruptions. amazing new details today of what it is like on plow toe. the dwarf planet has a blue sky. the pictures were only beamed down last week, and released thursday. scientists also discovered numerous ice patches. thanks for watching. i'm steph. the news continues next live interest doha. have a great weekend. ♪

>> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ hello, welcome to the news hour. i'm live from our headquarters in doha. killed for protesters, at least five palestinians in gaza are shot dead by israeli forces. the u.s. says it is overhauling its failed training program for syrian rebels. also this hour, the u.n. approves plans to give more power to e.u. nations trying to stop people smugglers. the nobel peace