the important thing he said was to never stop questioning. celebrating an extraordinary [ inaudible ] get a great deal more on all of the top stories and the background if you go to aljazeera.com. aljazeera.com. ♪ security concerns as americans hit the road for thanksgiving. the president set to speak in just a few moments. protesters hitting the streets of chicago, anger and calls for action after a dash cam video is made public. it shows an officer repeatedly shooting a black teen. and turkey and russia both urging peace after a russian war plane is shot down. ♪

this is al jazeera america live in new york city. i'm del walters. in just a few moments, president obama will speak to reporters at the white house. he has been meeting with his national security team throughout the morning, the briefing focusing on domestic security over the holiday weekend. the attacks in paris raising concerns of more attacks around the world. lisa stark live for us this morning in washington. lisa what can we expect the president to say? >> reporter: well, we understand that the president is really not going to make a lot of news, but he is going to tell the american public that there is no specific or credible threat right now pointing to a paris-type attack here. i see it as him being the reassurer in chief to tell people things are okay. we have got it under control, don't be too worried. this does come after the state department issues a worldwide

alert for americans traveling overseas to be especially vigilant. and after the fbi sent out a bullet calling law enforcement to be on the lookout nationwide. >> reporter: people are understandably on edge, and president obama addressed those fears head on during a news conference with the french president. saying he wanted to speak directly to the american people. >> groups like isil cannot dpeet us on the battlefield. so they try to terrorize us at home. against soft targets, against civilians, against innocent people. even as we're vigilant, we cannot and we will not succumb to fear. >> reporter: so the president said go about your business, a thought echoed by the head of homeland security. >> my message to the public in this holiday season is we urge you to continue to travel, go to

public events, go to public places, and know that our folks are on the job. >> reporter: counter terrorism experts say there is no reason to be anymore concerned than last thanksgiving. >> you just have actually far more likely to have your purse snatched or your wallet pick pocketed than you are to be targeted by jihadists. >> reporter: still from subway platforms to the heart of new york city nigh, tactical units are on patrol. in new york security will be tight for the annual thanksgiving-day parade. >> we always police that parade with very large numbers of uniformed officers. this year, i think you will see even a larger presence. the police presence will heighten the sense of security. it's supposed to be a beautiful weather day, and we are

encouraging people to come on down. >> reporter: just this weekend new york police ran a drill practicing for an active shooter in the subway system, an exercise planned before the paris attacks, but updated because of them, to include an attacker wearing a suicide vest. subways, trains and planes remain top targets. >> quite frankly there are just too many targets to protect, too many potential attackers to -- to monitor all of the time, so eventually someone is going to slip through the system and they are going to succeed in attack. >> reporter: stewart points out that america, although remains a very appealing target, del, is not -- is much less of a risk than europe, for example, which is closer to syria and iraq and has more individuals there who have embraced the isil ideology. >> lisa so many millions of

americans flighting, any extra restrictions on flights this holiday season? >> reporter: well, the tsa and airport officials are being very quiet about extra security they are putting in place, so a lot of it will not be visible. but we do understand tsa has ramped up its own security, retrained officers, tightened screening, because they were concerned about covert tests that showed that the screeners were missing mock bombs and weapons that were coming through an undercover test. so they had already started tightening security. and del, with all of the people traveling to the airports, it's going to mean very slow going as you try to get through the security lines. >> lisa thank you very much. say with us, we will bring you the president's comments as soon as he speaks at the white house. >> reporter: more protests are planned today in chicago after the release of a video showing a

white officer repeatedly shooting a black teen. the video shows the teenager being shot 16 times and killed by officer jason van dyk. al jazeera's diane eastabrook has more. >> reporter: hundreds of protesters spilled on to chicago streets. >> back up. back up. we want freedom. freedom. >> reporter: forming human chains. blocking traffic. >> let her through. >> reporter: and confronting police over the shooting death of the 17 year old by one of their own. >> if one of us civilians murdered someone we would be in prison the next day. >> reporter: protesters hit the streets within an hour of the city releasing this controversial dash cam video of mcdonald's death. al jazeera is freezing the tape

as the black teen falls to the ground after the first shot. then jason van dike fired a total of 16 rounds. >> to see a young man die in such a disturbing manner is deeply disturbing. >> reporter: van dyk turned himself into authorities tuesday morning and was charged with first degree murder. he has been spliped of his police powers and pay. the officer's attorney says what the public will see in the video is different from what van dyk saw that night. >> people viewing this videotape will have the brilliance and hindsight of 20, 20 vision. >> reporter: chicago major says officer van dyk will be held accountable. >> it's especially true given today anybody who is there to uphold the law cannot act like

they are above the law. >> reporter: while the mayor said protesters are justified in their frustration. he urged calm. this has been a peaceful process mostly with the demonstrators just closing down streets, but a lot of people are angry. >> how come it took them 13 months to charge somebody. they went to court and fought and fought and fought to keep the truth from the public. >> reporter: there were a few heated moments between protesters and police, but in the end, this was a night for freedom of expression, not fighting. diane eastabrook, al jazeera, chicago. and we want to go live now to al jazeera's andy in chicago. what is the very latest there? >> reporter: del, members of the black community are going to be meeting here at city hall, talking about all of this, and also the demonstration planned

here inside city hall in about a half an hour. but the family of the teenager we are told is scheduled to start talking about this case, on the south side of chicago where he was shot. and that's a big deal because the mcdonald family has never spoken publicly about this case. he had a troubled childhood and was shifted around to different foster homes in his life. but they say they don't like what some of the pasters are saying. >> andy's last night's protest large, noisy, but relatively peaceful. are we expecting more protests after today's meeting with the family? >> reporter: hard to say, although the good news in all of this -- there was an arrest and first degree murder charge of

that officer. for the moment we're just expecting relatively peaceful protests inside city hall, but we'll be watching, well. >> andy thank you very much. in minneapolis the funeral for another african american taeng -- teenager now underway. this morning three white men are being held, they are all accused at shooting at a group of protesters. moscow and ankara trying to ratchet down tensions after turkey downed a russian war plane. the turkish foreign minister saying russia and turkey will hold talks to try to de-escalate the situation. ur russia's foreign minister saying friendly nations should not deal with tennings using military might.

>> our agreements that we signed is -- as the president said we'll review them very seriously in light of things -- everything that is taking place recently in our relationship, especially attack on our airplanes. >> reporter: a few hours ago turkey's president saying his country is not looking to go to war with russia. >> translator: until yesterday the reason why such a thing did not happen is because of the cautious and well-intended behavior of the government of turkey. turkey is never on the side of tension or hostility. we are always for peace and diplomacy, and we will maintain our attitude from now on too. >> jamal says turkey's

government is working to ease the tensions. >> reporter: the language coming out of ankara has been one of deescalation, while turkey is not saying it is sorry for downing the russia jet, they say the military was merely protecting turkey's sovereignty, and that it targeted that aircraft without knowing the nationality of it. it is saying that they don't want this incident to be blown out of proportion, or to take more confrontational or to be escalated into deteriorating relationships between ankara and moscow. so turkey's prime minister, for example, has come out with reconciler to tones towards russia, and the foreign minister of turkey and the foreign minister of russia, held a one-hour long conversation over the phone to try to rectify the situation as it stands. however, moscow has said that this incident cannot go without

retaliation. we're hearing that they may cancel trade agreements between the two countries. the contention here isn't only about the downing of this jet. it is about syria and the civil war there. russia has been conducting several military air strikes over the past couple of weeks in syria, claiming it is targeting isil. turkey says no it is targeting opponents of bashar al-assad and the syrian regime. turkey sees bashar al-assad as the one who has destroyed the country and says he must go. how things will play out in the next couple of days are very important indeed, because the situation in syria is already so

fagmented and already so tense that adding an extra layer of con frontation will only make things worse. travel agencies predicting huge losses for turkey after the russian president came out in support of a travel ban on citizens a headed to that country. the bombing of a hospital last month, a report says was unfortunately. at least 30 people died when u.s. forces hit the hospital last month. the top army general in afghanistan explaining how the plane was mistaken for a taliban target. >> in addition the report found that fatigue and a high-operational tempo contributed to this tragedy, and identified failures in systems and processes, while not the cause of the strike, contributed to the incident. the physical description of the

headquarter building provided by the afghans to the u.s. commander roughly matched the description of the trauma center. at night the air crew was unable to identify any signs of the hospital's protected status. >> doctors without borders have called the incident a war crime. and repeatedly demanded a independent investigation.

>> these people have decided that today they will be arrested. >> i know that i'm being surveilled. >> people are not getting the care that they need. >> this is a crime against humanity. >> hands up... >> don't shoot. >> hands up... >> don't shoot. >> what do we want? >> justice. >> when do we want it? >> now. >> explosions going on... we're not quite sure - >> is that an i.e.d.? another live look at the

roosevelt room at the white house where the president will be speaking any moment from now. he will be talking about national security as we go into the holiday weekend. hope francis is in africa. it's his first pilgrimage to the continent. los angeles dealing with a stubborn crisis of homelessness, and as the numbers rise, the city is launching a new effort to try to do something about it. jennifer london takes a look. >> reporter: in the shadow of downtown los angeles on the destitute receipts of skid row, the homeless tents, 25 2525r 25r7 -- tarps, show the story of a city in crisis. l.a.'s homeless numbers have

jumped by 20% since 2014 and the federal government has recently released its own assessment of the crisis, saying l.a. has the highest number of chronically homeless people in the u.s. but the city's mayor has not declared an immediate state of emergency, despite an earlier announcement that he intended to take the unprecedented step. his office didn't say why he is not moving forward with a declaration now, but said in a written statement: for its part the city council has agreed to add more beds to its winter shelter program. while also allowing people sleeping in cars to park in parking lots.

>> if you walk down skid row, you wouldn't think you are living in america. >> reporter: in act this city council member told al jazeera he thinks an emergency declaration is needed to increase funding for permanent, affordable, and transitional housing. >> what we have right now is clearly not acceptable. it is something that has been neglected for many decades here in the region. in fact, the problem is only getting worse. our past approaches have failed. >> homeless advocate, pete white agrees, but isn't convinced an emergency declaration is the answer. >> instead of declaring a state of emergency in hopes of getting a federal and state contribution, we need to look at the resources that we're already spending, save those resources and apply them to things that really work, and of course that's housing, not arresting more people. >> reporter: the city already

spends about 1 [ inaudible ] a year. encampments like these must be removed by 6:00 a.m. how many times have you been arrested for sleeping on the streets? >> probably 13, 14 times, over the course of three years. we said we're not going to take our tents down. >> reporter: in the last few years smith has seen more homeless, more camps, more arrests. he wants to see more housing. for you what is the solution? how does the city of l.a. get you, joe-joe off of the streets? >> build housing. build low-income housing. that would be -- that's the answer. that's always going to be the answer. we need more housing. like house keys not handcuffs.

>> reporter: while stopping short of declaring a homeless emergency now, the city continues to look at all options as it struggles to find a long-term solution. jennifer london, al jazeera, skid row, los angeles. we want to take you back to washington, d.c. where we are awaiting word from president obama. this is the roosevelt room at the white house. reporters have been given the two-minute warning, meaning he'll be out any minute now. they are very concerned but want to reassure the american public that there are no credible threats either in washington or new york city. that have been the reported targets of isil's pr rant. those attacks in paris being a major concern. lisa stark is in washington. as we await the president, are you hearing anything from your sources in washington that would indicate anything out of the

ordinary? >> reporter: absolutely not. this is a meeting that you would expect, del, given what is going on in the world quite frankly. he is meeting with his national security team. they are going over efforts in the u.s. to monitor what is happening here. of course they are very concerned about loan wolf terrorists, so they are talking about efforts to keep tabs on as many as 900 people in the u.s. that's the number that the fbi says it is trying to keep tabs on, and looking at other ways to beef up security if need be. but all week they have been saying we have no credible threat or specific intelligence, that any type of paris-like attack is likely in the u.s. in the near future. so, again, i think the president like he did yesterday after he met with the french president, president obama came out and

said, look, we can't be paralyzed by fear. we have to go about our lives. if we don't do that the terrorists win. so he is just going to try to reassure the public that they are on it, keeping watch, and that people should not be alarmed or cancel their plans. on the other hand i will say that the government often says, and we have heard this expression a million times, del, if you see something, say something. and many security experts i have talked to say it really does matter. that people are the first line of defense. you have to see if a bag is placed somewhere and someone walks away. so everyone has to be the eyes and ears, because obviously the police can't be everywhere, and they do want the american public to at least be vigilant and be on guard, but continue with their plans over the holiday. >> and the latest polls seem to indicate that americans are not only growing accustomed to the

threat, but think that there may be something that may happen, but the president yesterday going out of his way to point out that things that have happened in the past have not stopped the american way of life, 9/11 did not stop the american way of life and several other loan wolf attacks. he said yes, they occupy the headlines today, but tomorrow we're talking about something else. is it a situation that you are seeing that americans are somehow adjusting to what we have been saying for years, that this may be the new normal, which is that the threat is always going to be there, but the realistic possibility of something happening is much lower than that talk? >> absolutely. obviously if there's intelligence chatter that they pick up, or information, then they will become more concerned, and they are monitoring for that all the time, of course. but there is a low-level of threat, it just exists, it is not going to go away. it is the new reality in a

sense, and when you look at soft target, not airlines, but the kind of targets that were hit in france, restaurants, public venues, those aren't as protected. a loan wolf attacker can go in and do serious damage, harm, and even kill people. and that's what is so hard to protect against. if someone is radicalized, it's hard to pinpoint them and keep tabs on them. lisa standing by. the president's two-minute warning now squeezing into four minutes. we're going to try to squeeze in a commercial break. stay with us. , and seemed to be-- provocation and seemed to be - i >> i've been asked to keep my voice down

cause we are so close to the isil position >> who is in charge, and are they going to be held to accout? >> but know we're following the research team into the fire >> they're learning how to practice democracy... >> ...just seen tear gas being thrown... >> ...glad sombody care about us man... >> several human workers were kidnapped... >> this is what's left of the hospital >> is a crime that's under reported... >> what do you think... >> we're making history right now... >> al jazeera america

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welcome back. it is now 12:00 east coast time. that is the roosevelt room at the white house. we are awaiting president obama. he is going to call out and address security concerns in the united states. he has been meeting with his national security team throughout the morning. and more than anything else, he will be there to reassure the public that the white house has received nothing in the way of security threats, concerning what happened in paris. because in paris 130 dead, in those attacks that are now the topic of conversation both in the united states and