cousin. there was more than 42,000 entries from 96 countries, the competition has been open for more than 50 years. you can check out those pictures and the news by logging on to our website, updated 24 hours a day, aljazeera.com. violence this morning in bethlehem where security forces used tear gas to break up protests. now israel is stepping up its security to try to stop attacks. president obama reconsidered u.s. troop numbers in afghanistan as taliban fighters pull out of a strategic city. and fireworks very fact, how the democratic candidates made their case in last night's debate, and bent the truth. ♪

this is al jazeera america live from new york city. i'm stephanie sy. israeli forces have shot dead a palestinian man app pair rengly trying to carry out a stabbing attack in east jerusalem. witnesses say the man was shot outside the gate of the old city. it marks the latest in a series of attacks that have shaken the israeli public. the government passed emergency security measures in response deploying military securities across the country. mike hanna has the latest. >> reporter: well, the police have released details as to their version of events. a palestinian allegedly attempted to attack some police officers outside of the damascus gate of the old city. he was shot and killed. none of the officers were j

jib -- injured. it is difficult to ascertain whether an attempt to arrest the man was made before shooting him dead. west jerusalem, the streets, were virtually deserted for most of the day. and people awaiting the implementation of those security measures that have been announced. the police have been given powers and indeed instructions to conduct blockages of various east -- east jerusalem neighborhoods, should they wish to. they can actually cut off particular areas, particular points of occupied east jerusalem. also more soldiers have been deployed in israeli cities. this is a very unusual development, the israeli army says some six companies of

solders have now been deployed to patrol alongside police. but probably the most contentious and controversial security regulation of all is the fact that the government says it will not return the bodies of those who carry out attacks on israelis. now in the past the bodies of people who attacked israelis without israeli ids were buried in remote areas as the government is suggesting it will do this time. but never before has an israeli government taken the bodies of people who do have israeli ids, and obviously have family ties in the region, and refused to return the bodies and also threatening to bury the bodies in some remote location, which means that the family would have no access even after death. this is something deeply, deeply controversial, and something that in palestinian eyes is very much the crossing of a red line. mike hanna reporting from

jerusalem. there has also been violence in the west bank today where clashes erupted between palestinian protesters and israeli forces after the funeral of a palestinian killed by police. president obama is reportedly rethinking the number of american troops in afghanistan. the president appears increasingly willing to keep a larger force there. the pentagon has been planning to reduce the number of u.s. troops to around a thousand by 2017, but afghan forces have been facing a resurgent taliban, and the threat from isil nearby. but the taliban says it has now pulled out of kunduz. jennifer glass has more from kabul. >> reporter: the taliban say it's not just about protecting civilians, it's also about reserving their fighters. they say they have withdrawn from kunduz city to they can save their strength for what they say will be future

operations. but their presence in kunduz is going to have lasting effects. they have targeted a number of people, namely women activists, people from the government and journalists, and many have fled the city and don't feel it is safe to go back. the taliban had supporters in the city who pointed out those activists, so a lot of concern about whether those people who reported what was progress in kunduz city, schools, and open media, whether and when they will go back. it's not the largest city in afghanistan, not by a long shot, but it is on a very strategic trade route between the capitol and the north. it's on the border, and it had had a lot of progress over the last 14 years. it took a while for it to tap. the taliban have been in the

surrounding areas, but kunduz city has been making progress. and it is a very, very key supply route for afghan forces and the nato forces as they withdrew, and those roads have been closed. we understand the road towards the border is open again, so some progress there, but the taliban threatening that they could come back at anytime. they chose to leave, and they say they could choose to come back. there are currently about 10,000 american troops still stationed in afghanistan. the democrats who want to be president are back on the campaign trail today. two of the candidates dominated the conversation, and now three others may have to reevaluate their campaigns. michael shure has more from las vegas. >> reporter: it's tough to leave las vegas as a winner, but by all accounts hillary clinton did just that at the debate last night. rather than being on the

defensive, hillary clinton came out on offense, and spent a good deal of time trying to assure democratic voters that she was one of them, and that she was progressive. >> i'm a progressive, but i'm a progressive who likes to get things done -- [ cheers and applause ] >> -- and i know how to find common ground and how to stand my ground, and i have proved that in every position i have had, even dealing with republicans who never had a good word to say about me, honestly. >> reporter: guns were on the agenda this time, and hillary clinton took that issue to senator bernie sanders. >> bernie sanders has a d-minus voting record for the nra. and when i first ran for congress, i told the gun owners of the state of vermont and i told the people of the state of vermont, a state which has virtually no gun control, that i supported a ban on assault

weapons. >> is bernie sanders tough enough on guns? >> no, not at all. we lose 90 people a day to gun violence. >> reporter: aside from guns there were issues that hadn't been discussed in g.o.p. debates. and there were three candidates jim webb from virginia, lincoln chafy, from rhode island, and former governor, martin o'malley, from maryland who had not been heard from by many, and were hardly heart last night. and now the democrats and frankly all political watchers await vice president joe biden, who after last night's debate has a far more difficult case to make for why he should be in the presidential race. >> michael thank you. we have been looking into some of what the candidates said on stage and whether it was all true. david shuster discovered some

discrepancies. >> everybody on this stage has changed a position or two. >> reporter: accused of political expediency, hillary clinton at times tried to revise history. she opposed a trade deal progressives hate. >> i did say three years ago i hope it would be the gold standard. it was finally negotiated last week, and it didn't meet my standards. >> reporter: but in dozens of speeches around the world, clinton endorsed the deal. >> the so-called tpp will lower barriers, lower standards, and drive long-time growth across the region. >> reporter: on the keystone pipeline, clinton announced her opposition last week. >> i never took a position on keystone, until i took a

position on keystone. >> reporter: but according to government documents, clinton supported the pipeline as secretary of state. and on some occasions she rationalized her support. >> we are either going to be dependent on dirty oil from the gulf, or dirty oil from canada. >> reporter: bernie sanders was asked about gun control. he supported a bill to protect gun manufacturers from lawsuits. >> which is it shield the gun companies from lawsuits or not? >> let's begin by understanding that bernie sanders has a d-minus voting record from the nra. >> reporter: that's true but the question was about protecting gun manufacturers. >> do you want to shield gun companies from lawsuits? >> of course not. this was a large and complicated bill. >> reporter: it was a lrj bill, but as a member of the house, sanders voted for hr-1036, protection of lawful commerce

and arms act. the law protects gun manufacturers from lawsuits, a protection that does not extend to most other product manufacturers. sanders and clinton both promoted their efforts to reign in wall street. >> my plan is more comprehensive and tougher -- >> clinton just said that her policy is tougher than yours. >> that's not true. >> reporter: on that point sanders correct. wall street firms have said repeatedly they fear the sander's plan far more than clinton's partly because he would break up the biggest banks. finally hillary clinton was asked about her email controversy. >> there is an fbi investigation, and president obama himself said this is a legitimate issue. >> i never said it wasn't legitimate. i said i answered all of the questions. >> reporter: but she has not explained how it was set up or whether she did anything to protect it from hacking. the five candidates on stage

produced more than 20 questionable claims. david shuster, al jazeera. planned parenthood makes changes over one of his most controversial policies. and under surveillance by new york police, muslim groups get another chance to go to court over what that practice violated their civil rights.

>> every saturday night. >> i lived that character. >> go one on one with america's movers and shakers. >> we will be able to see change. >> gripping... inspiring... entertaining. "talk to al jazeera". saturday, 6:00 eastern. only on al jazeera america. iran's guardian council has

approved the nuclear deal between tehran, the u.s. and five other world powers. that is the final step for the government. iran is expected next week to begin removing thousands of centrifuges, in exchange for the lifting of sanctions. turkey has summoned the u.s. and russian ambassadors over air strikes over syria. they are concerned that the strikes are helping syria's kurdish fighters. >> reporter: you need to go back a couple of days. on sunday, the u.s. said it dropped weapons to what it described as moderate syrian arab fighters in northern syria, then on monday, syrian kurdish fighters said they formed an alliance with some syrian arab groups, perhaps to make them look less likely that they are

fighting only for the kurds. as far as the americans are concerned the syrian kurds, the ypg have been the only effective fighting force on the ground against isil, and turkey suspects that the russians have been doing something similar. the u.s. as ever is walking a very, very fine line. it needs to be able to use the air bases that turkey opened up in the summer. they have been a game changer. they mean that u.s. aircraft can fly much shorter across the border into syria to target isil before they had to fly hours away from the gulf, so it's very important to the u.s. that it have access those bases, and the u.s. us does 23409 want to lose that access. it is keen not to upset turkey, and i think that's perhaps why it said it was dropping arms to syrian arabs, rather than syrian

kurds. bernard smith reporting from istanbul. turkey's government has been in a decade's long battle with the ypg which is pushing for autonomy. a wisconsin gun shop is planning an appeal after a jury found it liable in the shooting of two police officers. they have been ordered to pay nearly $6 million for selling guns used to shoot the officers. jurors sited with the officers saying the shop is responsible because it made an illegal gun sale. >> is this the beginning of change in the way that guns are sold in this country? >> i would hope so. but that might be asking too much. this is certainly a good step. is it going to change the way things are done around the country? time will tell. >> reporter: authorities say more than 500 firearms recovered from crimes committed in the milwaukee area have been traced

back to that store. the controversial police surveillance of muslims in new york is once again facing legal scrutiny this morning. the muslim americans who are being watched for more than a decade can sue the new york police department. john henry smith has more. >> reporter: it was created after the september 11th attacks. the nypd calls it the democratics unit. and from 2003, to 2014, it kept secret tabs on muslim americans without any evidence of criminal activity. >> what is the lead that sends them into our organization? >> reporter: angry muslims filed a series of lawsuits against the department. but they were thrown out. now a federal appeals court has reinstated the case. the judge wrote, quote:

20 months ago, federal judge dismissed the case, ruling that the surveillance program was designed to stop attacks, not to target muslims. and then police chief ray kelly offered this defense of the program at the time. >> we intend to continue to do the things that we believe we have to do to protect new york city, certainly the number one terrorist target in this country. >> reporter: the demographics unit was disbanded in 2014. police have admitted the program never generated a lead. john henry smith, al jazeera. several baltimore police officers charged in the death of freddie gray have lost a battle to try to prevent their words from being used against them. john terrett has more. >> reporter: good morning, in

pretrial hearings on tuesday the judge ruled that statements made by two of the six officers charged in connection with freddie gray's arrest on april 12th and his death on april 19th are admissible as evidence and may be used in their own trials and possibly those of their peers as well. on tuesday attorneys for the sergeant and officer has tried to supply the statements they gave to police in the early stages of the investigation, saying they were obtained improperly, but the judge rejected those motions. in white's case attorneys argue that she was tricked into thinking she was just a witness and not a suspect, who was told that signing away her miranda or silent rights, and the rights she has a maryland, baltimore, police officer, was not tantamount to giving up her rights, which was.

prosecutors have ruled that the statements have been obtained quite legally, and the suggestion that a police officer didn't understand her rights was a serious problem in baltimore. three others have agreed to withdrawal their motions to have their statements suppressed. the trial or trials slated to get underway in november, with officer william porter, the others will start in january, february, and march of next year, and this is fresh thinking by the baltimore city attorney trying all six as individuals rather than in one case. she's hoping to have more success that way. the charges of course include second degree murder, manslaughter and improper arrest. back to you. the city of baltimore has already agreed to pay more than $6 million to freddie gray's family as part of a settlement. california has dropped a controversial plan to allow

inmates with violent backgrounds to help fight wildfires. the program will now include inmates who have up to seven years left to serve instead of the current five years. planned parenthood is changing its policies over how it is reimbursed when it donates fetal tissue. it says it will keep a program that collects and donates that tissue, but as ines ferre reports it will now cover the reimbursement costs itself. >> reporter: planned parenthood hat been under attack for months over allegations it accepted payments for providing fetal tissue. [ inaudible ] >> reporter: anti-abortion groups claim the videos showed planned parenthood making a profit off of the tissue.

planned parenthood said the videos were misleadingly edited and denied receiving payment beyond reimbursement costs. now the organization says it will no longer accept reimbursement. the president wrote: richards would grilled last month about the controversy during a hearing on capitol hill. republicans are trying to defund the women's health-care provider. >> why do you need federal dollars? you are making a ton of dough. >> we don't make any profit off of federal money, and if i could just have a moment to explain -- >> but -- >> it is unacceptable that in the 21st century women in america are routinely harassed for accessing a legal medical

procedure. >> reporter: the group that released the videos called the policy change an admission of guilt. and the chairman of the house committee that questioned miss richards said: the organization is now the focus of five different congressional investigations and numerous state inquiries. ines ferre, al jazeera. taking a hard look at the economy. >> i'm melissa chan in las vegas, taking a closer look at how the housing crisis continues to impact its population. ♪

♪ the state of the economy was a big topic during last night's democratic debate in las vegas, and that hit home for a lot of people in that city. many are struggling there, including retirees who are not living their golden years the way they thought they would. >> reporter: paul came to las vegas prepared to retire and live a life of leisure. then the financial crisis hit. >> i bought the house at the peak, close to $400,000, and now the house is worth maybe 250. >> reporter: now he needs help, especially for his wife who as alzheimer's. he drops her off here every day. >> it has been rough.

it has been very hard. >> reporter: las vegas has gambled big on real estate and lost, up ending the retirement plans of many residents. >> folks who planned for their retirement for their later years and moves here from other states for the warm wonderful weather, and the low cost of living, and then found themselves going under when the economy crashed. >> reporter: the number of senior citizens who suddenly found themselves needing help caught the state by surprise. according to one study, the demand for cysted living is higher in nevada than the national average. this is just one of the few facilities in the entire state that takes care of a rapidly aging population. it helps about 1,000 people, that's not that much, if you consider that there are 350,000

in the state. fred tried working at a wal-mart, now he is a senior helping other seniors, volunteering and accepting a sty pengd of $2.65 an hour. even that little, he says helps. >> it blends in nicely with my social security. not much, but it helps out. >> reporter: aarp's local chapter stays busy. training and preparing seniors to rejoin the work force. retirement takes decades of planning and for so many people who made las vegas their destination, it wasn't supposed to play out this way. the economy here has picked up, but not enough to change these lives. if you haven't heard the chicago cubs are one step closer to the world series this morning. the cubs beat the st. louis cardinals, 6-4 in game 4 of their division series. they are looking to clench their

first world series since 1908. thanks for watching. i'm stephanie sy. the news continues next, live from doha. ♪ >> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ hello, welcome to the news hour, i'm jane dunton in doha. unrest continues in israel. a palestinian man is shot dead by security forces. more help for the syrian government. reports that iranian troops have been sent to help fight rebels. the taliban says it is withdrawing from kunduz, but warns it can take it back whenever it wants.