and they are delighted. [ laughter ]. >> malcolm webb, al jazeera, kenya. you can get more on that story as well as all of the others we have been telling you about. if you head over to our website you can see the front page there. all for you there, at aljazeera.com. these are live images coming from capitol hill where they are picking the man who will soon be third in line to be president. it is expected to pick paul ryan as speaker. the dynamics of diplomacy to push the end to the crisis in syria. and china is ending its

one-child policy. why the government says that aging population is behind their change. ♪ this is al jazeera america live in new york city, i'm del walters. the house of representatives at this hour is in the process of selecting a new speaker. the roll call is underway, and once it is over, paul ryan is expected to have that job. libby what is happening. >> reporter: the roll call is underway. and so far paul ryan has over 180 votes cast for me. democrats traditionally vote for their leader, so they are casting a vote for nancy pelosi. we're watching if any republicans choose not to vote for paul ryan. yesterday behind closed doors, there were about 40 republicans

who chose congressman webster instead. a representative from florida. very conservative. now as we talk to republicans last night, a lot of them said, including some of the big members of this freedom caucus, that that fight is over, and we're going to support paul ryan. right now daniel webster has seven votes. he did not vote for himself. he voted for paul ryan. so the votes being cast against him at this moment are nominal and symbolic. >> john boehner ends nearly a quarter of a century of public service. what did he say and specifically what did he do? >> reporter: an emotional moment for an emotional man. he was moving around a box of tissues which everyone was laughing about, because he tends to tear up when he talks about his roots, and his family, and

now he will be out of work. in addition to talking about some of the humble aspects of his life, he talks about what he believes republicans have been able to accomplish under his watch. >> the most significant spending reductions in modern times. we have banned earmarks all together. sorry. [ laughter ]. >> reporter: that's one of those sorry, not sorry, del. now certainly earmarks are something of the past, but getting rid of them has cost trouble on capitol hill. it seemed to be a way that members could do a little bit of horse trading. those days are over. john boehner is talking about republican conservative accomplishments. he has long been known as a conservative even as he is stepping down because a really stanch right-wing of the republican marty is really

pushing him out, del, but he is still a conservative, and that's an important part of his message as he leaves capitol hill. >> he also hearkened back to the old days in congress when all of the members would wear a coat and tie or some formal type of dress, and he pointed out that is not the case anymore. and they are taking up the budget as well. >> yes, john boehner will call out reporters if woman have their hair in a ponytail or someone is wearing sneakers. but he is really giving a parting give to members of congress by pushing through this budget deal that deals with spending over the next couple of years, and raises or suspends the debt limit until 2017. because we expect this to get taken care of in the next week. it has to pass the senate, but

provided it does, that clears the deck. it gives everybody some breathing room, and it will allow the new speaker to start fresh, and that's a big opportunity for the house. >> libby casey for us on capitol hill. libby thank you very much. and the republican presidential candidates are out campaigning once again this morning after clashing in another debate last night. michael shure has our story. >> reporter: in a g.o.p. debate here in boulder colorado billed by host cnbc as your money, your vote. the headlines were about jeb bush and marco rubio. >> jeb i don't remember -- i don't remember you ever complaining about john mccain's vote record. the only reason you are doing it now is because we're running for the same position and someone

has convinced you that attacking me will help you. i will continue to have tremendous admiration for governor bush. i'm not running against bush. i'm running for president. >> reporter: some thinking he picked the wrong fight and he should have gone after dr. ben carson who was left untested last night. donald trump was not as much of a factor, talking his way out of his past bankruptcies. when i talked to them afterwards each thought they won the debate. >> when they got to the [ inaudible ] question, they said doesn't that mean you are not paying attention? just crazy stuff like that. and i'm finding that across the nation, because you will notice every day there are ten new articles saying carson said this or that. but people aren't paying attention. >> reporter: mr. trump what do

you think about the way they went from having to catch carson in the race -- >> well, i think we won the debate. according to everybody, it seems we won the debate. >> reporter: the debate ended up being about the ineffectiveness of jeb bush. so where does he go from here in some even wondering if he can stay in the race. michael shure, al jazeera, boulder. all ten candidates trying to show how they differed on the issue as well last night. but as david shuster found out some claims aren't too accurate. >> this stuff is fantasy. >> reporter: out of the get a john kasich blasted away at his republican rivals, and while ben carson once suggested that the government get rid of medicare, carson's position has changed. but donald trump hit back hard. >> this is the man that was a

managing general partner at lehman brothers when it went down the tubes and almost took everyone of us with us, including ben and myself. lehman brothers started it all. >> when you talk about me being on the board of lehman brothers. wasn't on the board. i was a banker. >> reporter: he is correct. he was a managing director. ben carson disputed an assertion made about his past. he denied being anything more than a paid spokesman for a company. >> i didn't have an involvement with them. that is total propaganda. i did a couple of speeches for them. i did speeches for other people. they were paid speeches. it is absurd to say i had a relationship with them. >> reporter: but five years ago

he credited that company with funding a million dollars endowment in his honor. >> it requires $2.5 million to do an endowed share, and i'm proud to say part of that $2.5 million came from manatec. >> reporter: they also underscored social security. >> yes, we have stolen and lied to the american people. >> reporter: chris krichristie wants to cut the social security program. >> all that is in that trust fund is a pile of iou's. now they know they cannot pay these benefits because social security will be insolvent for seven to eight years. >> reporter: in fact it won't be insolvent for another 20 years. as for the iou's they are actually treasury notes

considered the safable bet in the world. several hammered president obama's economic policies. >> we have more businesses closing than starting. >> reporter: in fact, that trend started seven years ago at the end of the bush administration. carly fiorina attacked with this. >> 92% of the jobs lost during barack obama's first term belonged to women. >> reporter: u.s. labor statistics say that's not true. and to her overall point employment was actually higher for women and men at the end of president obama's first term when he took office. the debate featured more than 20 questionable claims. >> my apologies. i'm sorry. >> reporter: david shuster, al jazeera. new numbers out this morning showing the economy slowing down over the summer. gdp grew 1.5% last quarter. in that is less than half of the

growth rate we had seen in the spring. but consumer spending remained solid over the summer as it did earlier in the spring. thousands of students in illinois out of school again this morning. their teachers on strike now for nearly a month. diane eastabrook says it's a community that ill afford the standoff. >> reporter: these teachers walked out of their classrooms october 1st. furious over their contract. >> there has been an atmosphere since the strike began of the administration telling the teachers what to do. we expect you to go back and vote on something you already voted down. >> reporter: this is one of illinois's poorest communities. half of its residents live below the poverty line. the state took over four years ago because of poor performance. district spokeswoman says the

district needs to reign in teacher's salaries to avoid potential layoffs and program cuts. >> we're not in a position to raise the taxes for the community. and we already are experiencing challenges, but keeping up with taxes which are higher than our surrounding areas, and we want to make sure, that again, we're making a decision that is best first for our students, for the teachers and the district and we have to consider the entire community. >> reporter: the students probably won't miss that much time in the classroom, because the school year will be extended. but they may not be ready for standardized achievement tests in the spring. >> reporter: some organizations are filling the void, tutoring kids in math, reading, and other subjects. still this high school junior says the strike has the taken a toll on her and some of her friends. >> i don't think i'm going to be as motivated, because the school is like -- like -- no offense,

like people already think of it as a falling system, and this is -- i don't think the school is taken seriously. >> reporter: but some say students could be the big losers in the long run if the teachers give in. >> my fear is our district will not be able to retain teachers, because it is going to take them too long -- they will crawl to the finish line. >> reporter: the teachers thought they were close to resolving the dispute tuesday night. but talks broke off. they'll resume again thursday. diane eastabrook, al jazeera, east st. louis, illinois. pushing diplomacy in syria. trying to end the bloody civil war there. and three years after superstorm sandy, we'll take a look at a community that is still struggling, trying to pick up the pieces. ♪

china this morning changing its one-child policy into a two-child policy. the ruling communist party will now allow families to have two children each. that's a move to try to manage china's slowing economy. but it may be too little too late to reverse the effects of an aging population. >> this particular measure is long over due, because the policy was no longer necessary.

the chinese population was shrinking naturally. now they have this long-term consequences of the rapid slowdown of population growth in the past, and that is china's aging population. in that cannot be addressed overnight. >> china's one-child policy was introduced back in 1979. it is thought to have prevented about 400 million births. top officials between the u.s. and chinese navy this morning. the u.s. sending a destroyer into the china sea this week. the vote is just rapping up in the house of representatives at this hour. paul ryan does have the votes to be the new speaker. libby casey has been tracking all of the developments, and we will have them for you later as the final numbers are tallied

up. secretary of state john kerry and others are meeting today in vienna over the war in syria. the war has now been raging on for more than four years. iran is taking part in those talks for the first time, but the government is at odds with the u.s. over removing bashar al-assad from power. mohammed jamjoom has the latest. >> reporter: most of the participants still aren't here. u.s. secretary of state john kerry arrived a few hours ago just behind us. it appears at least part of the turkish delegation has arrived. we saw several diplomatic vehicles with turkish flags on them. as far as we can tell, and we have got no information to contradict this. the russians have not yet arrived and the saudis have not yet arrived. we were told they are expected later this evening. really what is going to happen today is a lot of bilateral meetings, and setting the stage for the big meeting that will

happen tomorrow, the meeting in which the iranians will be present for the first time that iran has been invited and participating in talks. iran a major power player in the region. much more so after the nuclear accord with the u.s. was signed just a few months back. but you will have the two primary backers of bashar al-assad in the room, along with the primary backers of the rebel opposition. so once more, we're seeing a reinvigorated diplomatic process to try to bring forth a political solution for the crisis, for the war in syria, but as the same time, the situation on the ground in syria seems to be spiralling more out of control. the humanitarian crisis not lessening at all, we're hearing in places, they are being bombed

these last few hours. every time this has been attempted, it hasn't yielded results on the ground as of yet. >> they started talking about counting at the top f our broadcast on who would be the next speaker of the house. we want to go back live to libby casey at capitol hill where paul ryan has now been chosen. >> reporter: that's right. he got it looks like 236 votes. that's about what he wanted to hit. that shows confidence in republicans in him. webster, a challenger, congressman webster of florida got nine votes. so that's not too bad of a showing for paul ryan. and it looked like webster

abstained from voting. so paul ryan moves forward with a vote of confidence from house members. there were a couple of quirky votes. one member voted for colin powell. he has done this before. for the most part, though, this was an occasion not of silliness, but of a lot of reverence and respect with all of the members gathered and this very formal process of taking a roll call vote and having each one stand up and say who they believed should be the next leader, del. >> thank you very much. paul ryan now the speaker, 236 votes cast in his favor. the pentagon sending another detainee home from guantanamo bay. he had been in prison for more than 13 years despite ner

being charged with any crime. he was approved for transfer back in 2009. his release, though, was repeatedly delayed. there are still 113 detainees being held at guantanamo bay. hours ago a blogger was awarded the prize for freedom of thought. he was arrested in 2012 after he started a website that criticized muslim clerics in saudi arabia. it was three years ago today that superstorm sandy swept across parts of new york new jersey and connecticut. it is now one of the costliest storms in u.s. history and as ines ferre found out, people are still trying to rebuild. >> this was our living, dining room. >> reporter: the rebuilding of allison and claire's home hasn't

really started yet. >> the waterline was about five feet. it was just a waterline throughout. >> reporter: the couple escaped through this bedroom window. when they came back, this is what the inside looked like once the water receded. >> it's a nightmare. >> reporter: is this something you think about every day? >> yes, every day, because i'm making a phone call or checking an email. >> reporter: with the help of volunteers, they cleaned out their home, started repairs on the house, gutting out the inside, but that stopped the day fema told them they had to elevate their entire home or build a new one higher up. >> three years later you are going to demolish this and build a new one. >> right. >> reporter: rebuilding has been a struggle for them and hundreds of other families. new york city estimates nearly 1200 of the roughly 1900 construction projects have been

completed. and about 60% of families who applied for reimbursements received their money. >> we're going to constantly work on resiliency, but a lot of folks finally have been served, and we will not stop until every family is served. >> reporter: claire and allison expect to wait another year before their home is rebuilt. do you blame anyone? >> there is so much to go around. there's no one organization, it's a shared blame all around. >> reporter: on the third anniversary of sandy, they are still waiting and hoping to reclaim what they knew before the storm. >> it's a day to commemorate and memorialize people we lost. and we're grateful to have our lives. but we're still in pieces. doris payne's latest brush with the law has the 85-year-old

who spent decades stealing high-end jewelry, come out of requirement.

>> these are live images coming in from capitol hill. that is the newly elected speaker of the house, paul ryan, 45 years old. he is now working the democratic side of the chambers. as you can see great bipartisan applause. much of it pomp and

circumstance. it will be interesting to see whether or not the decorum lasts. job boehner announced his retirement and will be leaving capitol hill at the end of the month. thousands each year plead guilty as part of a plea deal. but as robert ray explains some worry innocent people are being put behind bars. >> reporter: if you mention the justice system you think of a courtroom drama that we may see on television. but the reality is, most people who are incarcerated in prisons across the country, like this one, they never see trial. we're looking at plea bargains and how they effect the ju just -- justice system today. >> it is so gut wrenching, knowing they could be convicted but also not wanting to plead to something they feel they didn't

do. >> reporter: had you gone in for 30 years, you would have never left there. >> uh-huh. >> reporter: the founding fathers had in find that defendants are tried by a jury of their peers. people are wrongfully convicted. >> reporter: we'll have more tonight on al jazeera america. thanks for watching. the news continues live from doha. we want to take you back to capitol hill, the new speaker of the house paul ryan. ryan is 45, has three children, and says he wants to change the way they do things on capitol hill, wanting to spend more time with his family. the house says that indeed is okay, but different because in many cases the speaker of the house spends a lot of time out

on the campaign trial raising funds for his party. [ applause ] ♪ >> announcer: this is al jazeera. hello and welcome to the news hour, i'm sami zeidan in doha. china abolishes its decade's old one-child policy. paul ryan is elected as speaker of the house. no time to be lost, iran's foreign minister says he wants talks with the u.s. this evening on syria's future. >> move! move! >> .