we have come -- i'm having breakfast with the flowers. >> reporter: we flowers will eventually die as the intense heat soaks up the moisture. until then it is bursting with life. plenty more for you on our website any time. aljazeera.com. only a fully functioning house can truly rep sent the people. and if there were ever a time for us to step up, this would be that time. passing the torch, paul ryan taking over as speaker of the house, and he already has a lot to take care of. g.o.p. presidential candidates squaring off in a heated debate. their positions now under the microscope. chaos and confusion off of the coast of greece as a boat

with 200 refugees on board sinks. ♪ this is al jazeera america live in new york city. i'm del walters. congressman paul ryan has now been sworn in officially as the speaker of the house. the wisconsin republican taking the oath of office about an hour ago. that means that ryan is now third in line for the presidency. he received the gavel after a majority of members voted in his baif ror. libby casey live from capitol hill. and he received the support of most republicans. >> reporter: that's right. yesterday when republicans took a vote behind closed doors, there were defections, more than 40 members voted for a very conservative, some would say hard-line republican, pushing back against paul ryan. but today a lot of those members

of the freedom caucus did publicly stand up and say they believed paul ryan should be the next speaker. a handful of republicans pulled away, but less than ten. so we do see a new day here on capitol hill with a very young house speaker. only 45 years old, and paul ryan pledged to have a fresh start. take a listen. >> let's be frank, the house is broken. we're not solving problems. we're adding to them. and i am not interested in laying blame. we are not settling scores. we are wiping the slate clean. [ applause ] >> reporter: del, i'm here with a congressman, democrat from ohio. do you feel like this is a clean slate? we just heard speaker ryan talking about having a fresh start. >> we set a very good tone.

as our new speaker, third in line to the presidency of this country, very important position inside an institution that has been having difficulty because of the factionalism inside the republican caucus. the speaker was elected by a majority of votes. he had 21 more votes than were necessary to become speaker at 218. it is very atypical to have 9 members publicly vote otherwise. >> so you saw those votes as being a significant break. >> it's very atypical, and we saw that last time with speaker boehner. there were more. but if you look at the votes that occurred in congress and you study the math of votes, you'll see that the freedom caucus is sending a message to this speaker. and yes, some of them voted for him this time, but i think enough did not that that caucus

still is going to be problematic. hopefully they will be constructive. maybe the new page, the new opportunity here will be different. i hope so. in terms of the great lake states, i have to say that we felt terrible that an ohio speaker was stepping aside. we have a new speaker from wisconsin, the first ever from the state of wisconsin. i received my first degree from the state of wisconsin so i say go badgers. >> what does it mean to see speaker boehner stepping down. he got many standing ovations this morning, but he left on his own terms to some degree when it comes to timing, but he was pushed out in a lot of respects by that hard line group of conservative republicans. >> yes, and when you are speaker, you are privy to knowledge that the average member does not have. knowledge about the united states and the world. knowledge about the banking system and financial accounts.

information that is very sensitive, and a speaker bares all of that. and internallizes it. a lot of the other members they have six years seniority or four years seniority, they have no concept of what the speaker is involved in, beyond what happens in the house itself. so i think that they didn't fully understand the dimension of what he was working with, and many times he had to take legislation into his own hands to try to make something happen for the country. >> and one of those items was the big budget deal that gets the united states over this debt ceiling hurdle of next week. >> if you look at the republican votes this week in the house, two-thirds of them voted for the united states of america to default. can you imagine what that would mean to every business and bank

in this country? to the people of our country who receive social security checks? i mean it is literally crazy to put the united states in that position, but a majority of their members voted to do that, and what speaker boehner did was he said for the country we cannot allow this to happen so he became a part of a coalition. we have a democratic president, a republican senate, and a republican house, we had to cooperate. so he did strike a deal. i wasn't in on all of the ins and outs of that, but we didn't shut down the government and we didn't cause the country to default. >> as long as the senate passes the bill. >> that is correct. so he did what was right for the country. is that small little group of members with average seniority, less than six years, are they going to keep doing this to our country? is it very destructive behavior. so i hope, and i can say this, i

suppose as a senior woman, i hope they grow up. >> one perspective. thank you so much for take the time to talk with us. >> thank you very much. >> so del you get a sense of what democrats are looking at as they preview the next speaker of the house. business as usual but also some of the divisions that still lie within the party ranks. >> libby casey thank you very much. that quote will probably go down in the records, i hope they grow up. republican presidential candidates are back out on the campaign trail after clashing in their third debate last night. jonathan betz takes a look at some of the more contentious moments. >> the undercard featured just four candidates. and it boiled down to this. who would best be suited to take on hillary clinton in a general

election. >> i am trying to solve a problem and win an election. i am tired of losing. good god look who we are running against. the number one candidate on the other side thought she was flat broke after her and her husband was in the white house for eight years. >> reporter: the focus was economics and finance. buddies agreements over the moderator's questions dominated the night. >> is this a comic book version of a debate? >> no. >> reporter: when tressed about his at tend dance record, he marco rubio said this. >> this is another double standard that exists in this country. >> reporter: senator ted cruz went on the attack. his sentiments echoed by the

audience. >> this is not a cage match. donald trump are you a comic book villain, ben carson can you do math, how about talking about the substantive issues? >> reporter: and in a questioning examing wlonth fantasy sports should be considered gambling. >> we're talking about fantasy football? >> reporter: aside from very heated moments between the moderators and candidates, the g.o.p. main stage also zeroed in on hillary clinton. >> it is the height of hypocrisy for mrs. clinton to talk about being the first woman president when every single salary sheest spouses, and every single policy of president obama has been

demon straably bad for women. christie also positioned himself as the best person to faceoff against clinton. >> what don't do is what hillary clinton and john kerry and barack obama want us to do. put more taxes on it. give more money to washington, d.c., and then they'll fix it. >> reporter: one of the more interesting exchanges occurred between john kasich and donald trump. >> you can't do it with empty promises. these plans would put us trillions and trillions of dollars in debt. folks we cannot elect somebody that doesn't know how to do the job. you have to pick somebody who has experience, somebody that has the no-how and discipline. >> reporter: trump responded with this. >> he was so nice. he was such a nice guy, and he said, oh, i'm never going to

attack, but then his poll numbers tanked, that's why he is on the end, and he got nasty. >> reporter: the next debate will be in a few weeks in milwaukee, wisconsin. another chance for the candidates to contrast themselves from each other, and prove why they should be the nominee. secretary of state john kerry and other world leaders are meeting today in vienna, trying to find a diplomatic solution to the war in syria. iran is taking part in the talks for the first time. their government is at odds with the u.s. over removing president bashar al-assad from power. al jazeera's mohammed jamjoom is in vienna with the latest. >> reporter: most of the participants still aren't here. u.s. secretary of state john kerry arrived a few hours ago at the hotel just behind us. it appears at least part of the turkish delegation has arrived. he saw several diplomatic vehicles with turkish flags on them as they were driving past, but as far as we can tell, and

we have no information to contradict this, the russians have not yet arrived and the saudis have not yet arrived. really what is going to happen today, we told a lot of bilateral meetings, and setting the stage for the big meeting that will happen tomorrow, when the iranians will be present for the first time. that is a very big deal because iran is a major power player in the region, much more so after the nuclear ak core with the u.s. us was signed a few months back. there will be other countries like lebanon, iraq, and qatar. so we're seeing a reinvigorated diplomatic process to try to bring forth a political

solution. but at the same time even as this is going on, the situation on the ground in syria seems to be spiralling more out of control. the humanitarian crisis not lessening at all. and we're hearing today in places in the south are being bombed these last few hours. so much more impetus on these leaders to try to come up with a solution. and that is mohammed jamjoom for us. the pentagonen sending another detainee home from guantanamo bay. he had been in prison for more than 13 years despite never being charged with any crimes. he was approved for transfer back in 2009. his release, though, was repeatedly delayed. china is ending its one-child policy. chinese state media saying the

ruling party will now allow families to have two children each. as rob mcbride reports that is a move to try to manage the slowing economy. >> reporter: the announcement came at the end of a four-day gathering of the leadership. the strategy sets brood economic goals for china's development, but it's the change in the country's one-child policy that has been the most eagerly anticipated by many families here. it had already been partially relaxed, allowing families where at least one parent is from a one-child family themselves to have two children. now that is being extended to all couples. >> the importance of this measure is not so much demographic in terms of encount aging vast new numbers of children to be born, but the lifting of a highly restrictive policy. >> reporter: the policy was

brought in to control china's bergening population. it's cancellation will be popular. but a number of couple haven't decided to have another child. for them careers and living costs in beijing are the priority. >> my wife and i don't have any specific plan to -- for the second child. >> reporter: their seven-year-old son henry is in no doubt. >> i want a sister. >> reporter: there is the longer term demographic imbalance. there is a growing number of ellerly people who need to be supported by an ever-shanking population. the policy has to be abandoned to avoid another problem in the future. germany is criticizing

austria's latest plans to try to control the flow of migrants with a fence. over the past week about 10,000 people crossing the border. the fence would be the first in europe's passport free zone. the greek islands the search for more survivors continues today after a boat capsized. the greek coast guard rescued nearly 250 people, but dozens are still believed to be missing. 11 others including two little boys died on wednesday. >> reporter: the fishing boats emerged from the darkness racing into port with no time to lose. huddled on deck wrapped in anything the ro crew could find, just a few of the survivors of yet another tragic sinking.

they looked bewildered, unsure whether to smile or weep, and then the volunteers medics spraing into action. many were much, much worse. in the darkness the key side was transformed into an emergency triage center. volunteers tended to be the many survivors, who looked to be suffering from hypothermia and shock. >> put him on his side. >> reporter: some appeared to be slipping away. despite the best efforts of medics. >> i'm checking for a pulse. clear. move. move. move! >> okay.

okay. >> reporter: a child was transported to the hospital. other survivors were able to walk. the small greek island has been receiving 5, 6, 7,000 refugees and migrants almost every day this summer. this is not the first sinking tragedy here. the residents are deeply affected by it. >> translator: babies are drowning. i am 67 years old, and i can't hold back my tears. of course it is the big states that must help, since we have small, then they must do the job. the people drowning are our own blood. yes, we are sorry, but what else can we do in shame! >> reporter: more boats arrive with moore survivors. these in app pair rengly better condition. the true total of fatalities from this latest tragedy may

never be known. when we come back, breaking down the economy, the gdp numbers are out, and it does not look too good for your wallet. from this latest tragedy may ay from this latest tragedy may ay

>> ali velshi, lifting the lid... >> cameras in place for money and not safety. >> on the red light controversy. >> they don't give two cent about your safety. >> there's an increase in rear end accidents. >> ali velshi on target: hitting the breaks. that time. passing the torch, paul ryan taking over as speaker of the the all-important third quarter gdp numbers came out this morning, showing the economy didn't grow very often.

ty -- patty what do the numbers mean? >> well, third quarter u.s. economic growth clocked in at 1.5%. that was a sharp slowdown from the second quarter. the major drag on growth last quarter, businesses posted the biggest draw-down of inventory stockpiles in three years. another drag, exports which rose just 1.9%. now experts have been hit hard by a strong dollar, making u.s. goods more expensive to buy overseas. one bright spot consumer spending which rose. but consumers are still feeling confident to reach into their pockets and shell out for big-ticket items like cars and other durable goods. on balance this is not a terrible report. but we're going to get two more

revisions as more data becomes available, but it looks like the u.s. is not going to break out of the slow growth trajectory it has been on for many years. >> a lot of people are asks questions about the fed. is the fed going to raise interest rates? >> when interest rates go up, it will have a knock-on effect, you will see higher mortgage rates, and interest go up on consumer credit. but when will the fed raise? after their meeting yesterday, they left the door open on a rate hike in december. right now on the market thinking about a 50% chance on that. consumer spending is looking good, and the fed in its statement -- it dropped the language on considering the impact of slowing global growth and gone back into just monitoring the global economy. >> thank you very much.

still ahead, we're going to talk about another concern. scientists are very worried about this year's el niño.

that time. passing the torch, paul ryan taking over as speaker of the millions of dollars worth of property may be in el nino's path in southern california. the los angeles area is getting ready for more flooding and mud slides, but not everyone agrees on just what needs to be done. >> i have never seen this

before. >> reporter: this is southern california after one brief storm. a warm-up for what climate scientists are calling a god cilia el niño. roads closed, cars swept away, a deadly storm forecasters say should be a warning. >> floods mud slides and general may ham. >> reporter: he predicts this year's el nino, could break records. >> it is a little bit like god cilia tramping across the landscape and seascape. >> reporter: los angeles public worked cleaned out these basins to provide flood relief to communities that live below them. 14 control dams have excessive

amounts of dirt and debris that have built up behind them, putting cities like pasadena at risk. pasadena is home to the rose bowl. and it sits in the middle of the dry stream. it was built as a flood-control channel. the fear is if el nino brings more rain than the channel can handle, the stadium and 500 homes downstream will be in the direct path of potential flooding. this dam feeds into that flood-control channel. the county wanted to re move more than 2 million cubic yards of sentiment. but environmental groups sued, saying bringing in heavy equipment and dump trucks would increase pollution, disturb neighborhoods and wildlife. downstream, along the dry stream -- >> i think in this case we should have done something.

if we can avoid a disaster. we have 110 horses here. and it's going to be quite a different task to get them all situated. >> it's too late to do anything. because el niño is right arrange the corner. >> reporter: the irony, for years californians have been wishing for rain. now too much of a good thing could swamp the state in a matter of months. jennifer london, al jazeera, los angeles. a group of women are taking female empowerment to new heights. six russian volunteers to see how women would interact in a trip to the moon and back. the iss by think way, international space station never having an all female cow. russia by the way sent the first woman into space back in 1963. that's it for us. i'm del walters. the news continues next live

from london. and remember, you can check us out on our website, aljazeera.com. syria, the high level talks ♪. >> lauren taylor, also coming up, china decides to abolish it's controversy one child policy in a direct response to an aging population. >> elect a new speaker, but what does that mean for president obama? and to the afghan refugees who have made their desperate