he was the star of the 1995 rugby world cup because of his combination of sides, speed and power. that same year, he was diagnosed with a kidney illness it is thought contributed to his death. more news on our website, aljazeera.com. >> jury selection begins in one of the officers charged in the death of freddie gray in baltimore. this is the moment we finally determined we would save our planet. >> president obama joins dozens of world leaders in paris as scientists warn time is running out to limit global warming. as millions head home, wicked weather sweeps across the country, leaving some areas water logged and others coated in ice.

>> this is aljazeera america live from new york city. i'm stephanie sy. jury selection is now underway in the first trial of a baltimore police officer charged in the death that sparked protests in that city. officer william port hear pleaded not guilty to a number of charges connected with the death of freddie gray. his defense team is concerned he may not get a fair trial. al jazeera's john terrett is live for us this morning outside the courthouse in baltimore. john, what's at stake for baltimore with these trials? >> good morning to you. i think quite a lot. the city is very, very anxious to avoid terrible rioting with lots of african-american businesses simply where he could and wiped out in that rioting. they are most keen to try and top that from happening. tomorrow, it is seven months precisely since charges were

filed by the state attorney marilyn moas be. the officer has pleaded not guilty to the charges. publicity surrounding the case is one of the toughest hurdles facing the accused police officer and his defense team. >> the biggest challenge for the defense is the climate right now for a police officer charged with manslaughter or any sort of criminal act against an unarmed

civilian. >> protests against police officers have taken place not just in baltimore, but all over the country. porter's trial is getting underway on the heels of a murder indictment against a chicago police officer. baltimore is recovering from riots following the death of freddie gray. he suffered a spinal injury after he was arrested april 12 during his transportation in a police von. prosecutors contend officer porter caused his death when he failed to secure gray with a seatbelt, contrary to a recently adopted policy. this video purports to show porter looking on as gray is shackled and placed in the van. >> he doesn't step up to seatbelt him. is that a crime? does that rise to the level of such unreasonable conduct on the part of an officer? not every wrong is a crime. >> it was a deliberate failure to do their duty. >> billy murphy sees the case differently. he represented freddie gray's

family in the civil case and reached a $6.4 million settlement with the city. >> every one of the officers who was in a position to know and had a dutton, his medical condition just ignored it. that's called malfeasance in office. that's the theory of the prosecution's case. >> according to court filings, the driver of the police van stopped at aren't 9:00 a.m. and asked porter check on gray. according to a report in the baltimore sun newspaper. gray asked for medical help. the van made another stop to pick up another suspect. paramedics weren't called until 9:24 when the van reached the police statement. grays statements and all of those of the officers accused will undoubtedly bring up complex liam question in court. >> somebody needs to pay for what they did to that boy. somebody needs to pay for that.

six police and then he goes in the hospital and dies? spine injuries? no. >> trials for the other five officers charged are scheduled from january through march next year. >> the city of baltimore is asking people not to take just one case in ice lakes but look at all six of the trials coming up between now and march of next year and look at them as a whole when it comes to the way they are trying to reform the police service here and the relationship between the police and in particular, the african american community. >> all important questions. john, what is the security situation around the courthouse this morning? >> very tight. i can't show you, because they're just around the corner, but you might be able to hear them. there are protestors being very loud right outside the room where the judge is at this moment beginning the pros of selecting the jury. that's fine. the city said peaceful protests are welcome.

during the pretrial stages within there were peaceful protests, as well, but some broke away. the police have a tact ache here for clamping that down calmed the squat approach. they have squads on duty and if people break from this peaceful protest to disrupt the city in any way, they will be stopped from doing so. >> john terrett live in baltimore, thank you. >> s subtle spect in a deadly shooting at a plant parenthood clinic is due in court this afternoon. he faces murder charges and this morning we're learning more about the three people who died in that shooting. jennifer was a mother of two. she reportedly was at the clinic friday to support a friend. an iraq war veteran and father of two and a police officer also leaves two children behind. he was a six year veteran of the university of colorado at colorado springs police force. as al jazeera's paul beban reports, authorities are trying to figure out the motive for the killings.

>> to people who met him, the suspect in friday's shooting at a planned parenthood clinic was strange, anti social and strongly critical of president obama. >> we got some anti obama pamphlets, just weird, three minutes of meeting somebody, they're already wanting to give that you stuff. >> authorities are not confirming that robert dear, jr. said no more baby parts after underring to police. nevertheless, the role anti abortion rhetoric dominated the talk shows. on this week, the head of planned parenthood's rocky mountain chapter said hate speech fueled an act of domestic terrorism. >> i can't believe that this isn't contributing to some folks mentally unwell or not, thinking that it's ok to target plant parenthood or abortion providers.

>> republican presidential candidate mike huckabee agreed with calling the shootings dom terrorism but stopped short of blaming the anti abortion movement. >> i think that's a little bit disingenuous on the part of plant parenthood to blame people who have a strong philosophical disagreement with the dismembering of human babies and with the selling of body parts to say that we would like to retaliate by sending some madman into a clinic to kill people. >> republican candidate donald trump refused to blame anti abortion sentiment, calling the shooter a maniac. trump admitted that dislike for planned parenthood has been bolstered by video showing planned parenthood officials discussing fetal tissue research. >> don't low ball it. >> ok. >> tell me -- >> i will tell you there is a tremendous group of people that think it's terrible through all of the videos they have seen with some of these people from

planned parenthood talking about it like you're selling parts to a car. >> investigators say it will be days before they finish processing the evidence from friday's shootings. meanwhile, a portrait is emerging of robert lewis dear junior, a man alienated and adrift, a legal gun owner, but someone who seemed to give little indication that he was not only armed but potentially very dangerous. paul beban, al jazeera, new york. >> no classes today at the university of chicago's main campus. the f.b.i. is investigating an on line threat. someone posted a message threatening an attack. the f.b.i. and school are trying to figure out just who posted the threat. >> this morning, world leaders are gather road in paris amid tight security. they are talking about climate change. the pressure is on for negotiators to hammer out an ambitious deal to cut carbon emissions. while the leaders are talking inside the conference, protestors outside.

things did get violent over the weekend when some demonstrators clashed with police. mike viqueira has been monitoring the talks. it has been a busy day for president obama already at the conference. >> you are right. he addressed this meeting of 150 world leaders. this is seen as a major turning point in the fight against global warming, president obama calls it the last best chance for world leaders to come to agreement. they are after a series of agreements from nations to lower their emissions targets. the united states target is 26% to 28% over the next 10 years in 2025. chain in a, the world's largest emitter wants to stop by 2030. a lovers around this meeting, of

course many in the scientific community insist that global warming must be limited to two degrees celsius. it's been up 1.8% over the course of the last 140 years. a lot of people now feel that that is unattainable both as a matter of technical science and as a matter of politics. these leaders are trying to come to agreement. president obama has had a busy day, started out meeting with chinese president xi. these two leaders represent the what largest polluters in the world, china in terms of total emissions, china leader in terms of per capita. here's a little built of what he had to say. >> the two largest economies in the world and two large effort carbon emitters, we have both determined that it is our responsibility to take action, and since our historic joint announcement of our targets in

beijing last year, more than 180 countries have followed and set their own targets, so our leadership only issue has been absolutely vital. >> a part of the obstacle, part of the difficulty that is president obama will face is opposition from republicans here insisting that any agreement coming out of this conference in paris be put before congress as a treaty. obviously that would not pass the republican controlled congress. >> that's why they're talking about it as more of a deal. president obama, mike, also melt with president putin. what was discussed in that meeting? >> this is one of those when world leaders gather you said an informal not planned, there you see them meeting earlier. this was not part of the meeting where they discussed many issues. we saw a similar event happen two weeks ago president g20 summit in turkey. we're told royalties is

reporting from the site there, president obama expressed regret over the death of that russian pilot shot down by turkish f-16s ostensibly over turkish territory. he also encouraged vladimir putin in russia and their military foray into syria to focus fire on isil and not the opposition, many of whom of booked by the united states and its allies. >> mike, thank you. >> at least 14 are dead after a major storm brought snow and i'm to the southern plains. officials hope to get a clearer picture of the damage caused by that bad weather. we have more. >> more rain over flooded roadways and rivers in north texas and arkansas where deadly storms hit parts of the southern plains over the holiday weekend. at least eight people are dead

in texas, another six in kansas. some drivers were stuck inside their cars, including 29-year-old benjamin floyd. his vehicle is seen here. he died after swept off the road while driving to work. >> he told the 911 that water was coming in the vehicle and then they lost contact with him. >> at this texas farm, rescuers stepped in to save these farm animals. >> the horses were up neck deep in water. >> in oklahoma and kansas, ice and freezing rain are blamed for much of the problems over the thanksgiving holiday. thousands of homes and businesses lost power, leading the governor in oklahoma to declare a state of emergency. frozen highways across kansas made driving all but impossible. cars and trucks had to be towed after veering off the road. >> as that storm passes, another one comes in. >> we've had a very active pattern lately, so we barely got out of one, we already have another. it's hitting some of the same places. here's that broad view. rain from the tends valley area, seeing the heavier part that

have, backside more snow, a little freezing precipitation, but not the widespread ice storm like we had with the last system. some of the snow will be heavier in a few places. first the broad picture we'll have today. the core of the yellows, anywhere including tennessee especially possibly into parts of north carolina, look for four-inches, five-inches over the next two days as the system goes. on the backside where we have more of that snow, we're going to see heavy stuff, especially on the south dakota, minnesota border, easily widespread circumstance inches, so a half foot. some places could go over a half foot of snow with all of this. a lot of winter storm warnings go until late tonight and winter weather advisories into the day tomorrow, because we'll still be dealing with that. areas are going to be slick. of course that's supported by more called air. we had the first shot come through, except for the deep south is keeping a core warmth. a lot of temperatures dropped

over the course of the weekend, more cold air being reinforced, so the temperatures will not be going up fast. into today and tomorrow, that rain for the east coast, but by the time this finally clears out really more into thursday, other than the west coast, a big break. if you haven't shoveled anything out, you'll of a couple of days to do that. >> thank you for the silver lining. >> russian president meets counterparts from germany and israel as nato tries to lower terrence witness turkey. >> two israeli teens found guilty for brutally killing a palestinian last year. one suspect won't know his fate for a while.

>> half a million fields will lie fallow. >> if we had another year of this severe drought, i'd say all bets are off. >> this morning, the u.s. embassy in afghanistan is warning of an i am talent attack there. dips say they have received credible information of a plot in the capital, kabul. they say it could happen in 48 hours but gave no other details. the embassy said u.s. citizens should consider leaving immediately. >> an israeli court found two minors guilty of killing an israeli teenager last year. they admitted to burning him. it was days after three

palestinian were killed by illegal settlers in the occupied west bank. >> it's taken almost a year and a half for this partial verdict to be reached, the two minors found guilty of committing the murder, but the main ringleader, a 30-year-old man, ben david, his lawyers have submitted an ininsanity plea. the courts now saying that a final verdict on his case will come on the 20th of december. a lot of disappointment here. we spoke to the lawyer of the family who sees this as a manipulation. what he tells us is at the time of the arrest, ben david actually meticulously went through how he planned and reenacted the entire murder. he said there was no indication that he was in sane, there was a very planned, meticulous action there, and also issue with how palestinians perceive this on the street. they are skeptical that any justice will be done to israelis accused of committing crimes against palestinians. we're going to have to wait how

this plays out and also question how the two minors will be sentenced. the question is will they be treated in the same way. the verdict for the minors is january 13. if the main ring lead leader gets convicted, his sentencing, too, will happen on that date. >> stephanie decker reporting from jerusalem. >> the murders sparked protests in the occupied territories. days later, the 2014 gaza war began. russian president vladimir putin plans to talk syria and isil on the sidelines of the paris climate summit. he plans to meet german chancellor angela merkel and israeli prime minister pending net. he said 40% of size as i will territory has been taken. that means there is real

progress made in the fight against isil. certainly on the iraqi side of the border that is happening and syria, as well. they're being bombed regularly, their taking a lot of casualties. a number like 23,000 is certainly plausible. we have to wonder how many new recruits have come across the turkish border into syria and into the theater during that time period. there may still well be many islamic state fighters on the ground. >> these are fighters that don't wear a uniform or represent a country and all they have to do is change clothes and it's up to the coalition to try to figure out whether they have defected or they are just laying low? >> it's a very serious problem, always in this type of battle. you can never know in the aftermath did we kill 25-year-old civilians or did we kill 25-year-old fighters whose friends picked up the weapons

and left. >> there's a new push to fight isil since the paris attacks. french president hollande has been putting together a grand coalition to go after the group in syria. >> congress is getting back to work after thanksgiving recess and focusing on the budget. congress has until december 11 to pass a new funding bill and avoid a government shutdown. the main issues holding up a new bill include federal funding for planned parenthood and whether to accept syrian refugees. >> privacy worries over d.n.a. why a practice in california collecting blood from babies is raising concern over just what it's used for.

>> restaurant goers in new york city will soon be getting more information on their menus, showing salt they are about to consume. the law goes into effect tomorrow and requires these little salt shaker labels to be placed on the menus. the label will identify items to top the daily limit of sodium. >> there is more scrutiny for a controversial practice in california. for years, the blood of babies born there has been collected, screened for genetic disorders and then sold to private companies for research. as jacob ward reports, that has critics concerned about privacy. >> as any parent can tell you, the birth of a child in a blur

of hurried parking, terrible pain, anxiety and a lot of medical forms. when my kids were born here in california, we were asked to sign a form that would allow the state to do genetic screening using a blood sample. when we looked at it, it made a lot of sense. >> little poke, sweetie. >> the form allows the state of california to take a pin prick of blood, blot it on to a piece of paper and screen for more than 30 potential applications. it's also become possible in the last decade to use that blood to sequence a baby's d.n.a revealing all the information for a doctor or scientists to see. those samples are stored at a facility maintained by the department of health. this is a treasure trove of genetic information. your average scientific database offers up a genetic database of maybe a few thousand people, but this place has the information of pretty much everyone born in california since 1983.

that is millions of people's genetic information. >> those samples are available to more than parents and state healthworkers. california's program makes samples available to law enforcement and to private companies, which can pay to use the samples for gene sequencing and medical research. according to literature, the samples are de-identified and passed along to paying companies as anonymous data, but d.n.a. is so unique, it's possible to use on line information to cross reference them and identify individuals. the retail practice is so alarming to some california residents that an assemblyman introduced a bill requiring written consent from parents for indefinite storage and research. it failed to pass and the database continues to grow. >> it's an incredible resource. >> this doctor has used the california database to investigate childhood disease. >> all of us have diseases that

run in our family and by sequencing people's d.n.a., we hope to be able to predict that. you actually need data from a lot of people to try and understand that. >> he says my kids stand to benefit from being part of the database. >> for people who have these diseases when they're serious, the parents don't care about privacy. they really want -- i mean, they care at some level, but number one priority is to solve their child, find out what's wrong with them and possibly lead to a treatment. >> the program allows me to have my kids data destroyed, but researchers are hoping i won't do that, because the code of our bodies can help bring more healthy children into the world. jacob ward, al jazeera, san francisco. >> thanks for watching. the news continues next live from doha.

>> welcome to the al jazeera news hour. to the stories. the next generation is watching world leaders who are urged to agree on a meaningful deal in a conference in paris. >> if there was no violation there wouldn't be such a crisis today. >> turkey's prime minister refuses to apologize for the shooting down of a fighter jet. a mge