new flag to go up against their existing one. those in favor of change argue the union jack no longer represents the former british colony. there's more real news from al jazeera at our website, aljazeera.com. awaiting a verdict, a jury in baltimore resumes deliberations in the trial of an officer chard in connection with the death of freddie gray. secretary of state john kerry is in moscow this morning calling for real progress in determining the future of syria. we have lift off, the latest trip to the international space station making history in the u.k.

on: this is al jazeera america live in new york city. i'm del walters. jurors at this hour deciding the fate of the first officer charged in connection with the death of freddie gray, with my porter charged with in volunteer manslaughter. gray died from injuries he suffered while being transported in the back of that police van, his death sparking days of riots in baltimore. today police are again bracing for the worst. john terrett is in baltimore. >> baltimore is a city on edge this morning. the police leave has been canceled, officers working 12 hours a day and the police have said they expect protest after the verdict comes in but don't expect it to turn violent. they don't say what they will do if they do turn violent. to be fair to the police, they've worked very hard in transparent fashion since the riots of last april with the community to try to show how they are changing as a police

force and avoid a repeat of what happened back then. the local school districts have written to parents saying any teenage violence or demonstration will not be tolerated and kids should remain in schools and the mayor enacted the city's management service just in case. the jury heard i am passed closing arguments from the defense and prosecution. the prosecution saying that he, officer porter didn't seatbelt freddie gray in, didn't call a medic, didn't check on him. that's a complete additional reward for human life, that's man slaughter. the prosecution said that the state hadn't brought a single witness to testify that officer porter acted unreasonably. the jury came to work early this morning. they were in by 8:30, they asked an early start. we don't know whether that means there will be a verdict today or tomorrow. it could take a week. we simply don't know, we are here monitoring the situation to tell you whenever they decide on a verdict. >> that is john terrett in baltimore. he said that jury is not see

quested. two of the word powers looking for common ground to end the conflict in syria, u.s. secretary of state john kerry is in moscow to talk to sergey lavrov. kerry emphasizing both sides are committed to ending the civil war. >> even where there have been differences between us, we have been able to work effectively on specific. >> within the hour, kerry plans to meet with russian president vladimir putin. that discussion could set the tone for a meeting on friday about syria at the united nations. washington and moscow at odds over the future of syrian president bashar al assad and what role he might play in any political transition. >> a senior fellow at the cato institute center for liberty and prosperity was vladimir putin's chief economic advisor and personal representative before the g-8, thanks for being with us. how optimistic should web about

this meeting between secretary kerry and russian president vladimir putin and what do you expect? >> it depends what you would consider optimistic. on the part of mr. putin, definitely it's quite a substantial breakthrough, because the so-called isolation or semi isolation in which united states tried to put mr. putin for about a year and a half now is completely broken. president obama met mr. putin several times over the past three months, now mr. kerry is visiting mr. putin in kremlin once again, so it's not a surprise that russian minister of foreign affairs has isolation. it's a breakthrough on the russian side. on the u.s. side, it's not clear what the u.s. administration is doing to achieve in this visit. one issue to be discussed is the

terrorist organizations on which both sides would agree. i cannot exclude that russian side would push for deheating hezbollah and hamas from this list. i'm not sure that the u.s. administration would be ready to accept such an offer. >> do you see anything coming out of these meetings other than the fact that the two sides are talking and negotiating? >> i would not exclude that either mr. lavrov or mr. putin publicly would say something about the turkish incident with the turkish and russian jet, when one of them was shot down. it would be interesting to see that mr. putin would be discussing with the u.s. secretary of state issues of turkey, of the member of nato without nato, without member of nato, without turkey.

i cannot exclude there would be some kind of condemnation of this act. >> thanks for being with us today. there's also pressure on turkey to do more in the fight against isil. defense secretary ash carter in ankara trying to drum up more support for the u.s. led military campaign, taking turkey needs to tight that its border with syria, the stretch isil uses for trade and to shuttle foreign fighters back and forth. the embassy in turkey is scaling back consulate operations today in response to a potential security threat. americans in that area have been told to maintain a high level of vigilance and avoid the embassy until at least wednesday. house speaker paul ryan expects a spending bill to be finished today, opening for a vote in the house on thursday. some lawmakers are hung up over policy issues they say have been

tacked on to the bill. the current funding deal expires wednesday at midnight. >> the fed beginning of two days of meetings in washington today, expected to raise interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade. usually the fed does so when it is worried about inflation or over heating economy. this time, it's different. >> after nearly seven years of near zero interest rates, the federal reserve is primed for lift off. >> the u.s. economy has recovered substantially since the great recession. >> in testimony before congress this month, fed chair janet yellen described an economy ripe for an interest rate hike. with the labor market adding 13 million jobs since 2010 and an unemployment rate that's been cut in half, rosy numbers, but not the whole story. unemployment has fallen in part

because the percentage of people participating in the labor force has shrunk. there's still millions of people working part time who'd rather have full-time jobs and though there are early indication that is wages are picking up, most americans are still waiting for a meaningful raise. evidence of a labor market that still has too many workers, chasing too few jobs and which could get even slacker if rates go up. >> do you think the federal reserve is justified in hiking rates for the first time in nine years? >> i think the federal reserve really needs to wait until the labor markets, american labor markets become tighter. >> amy is a senior policy analyst with a think tank. >> the larger concern right now really is full employment and we are not there. >> yellen is concerned that waiting too long could force the fed to raise interest rates abruptly. >> such an abrupt tightening would risk disrupting financial markets and perhaps even

inadvertently push the economy into a recession. >> does janet yellen have a point? >> the reality is that the american economy still isn't delivering for american workers, and choking off job creation at this point, that's a real danger, as well. >> american firms already reeling from slowing exports are also likely to suffer from an interest rate hike, because it will make an already strong dollar even stronger, making u.s. goods that much more expensive to buy abroad. >> while other central banks around the world are holding rates down and cutting them, janet yellen signaled the fed will press ahead but cautiously emphasizing it will raise rates gradually. >> today is the last day for americans to sign up for affordable care act, obamacare. the obama administration hopes

to sign up 900,000 people through the affordable care act this year, bringing the total number of people covered to about 10 million. according to this morning's new york times, government officials are describing it as unprecedented demand. >> seattle mayor won't sign an ordinance to allow uber employees to unionize. the city council unanimously passing that ordinance monday. it doesn't require the mayor's signature to be law. drivers have been considered to be independent contractors, not allowing them to have traditional benefits. >> i want to give the drivers some leverage in negotiating with uber, negotiating with lift so they have say in what their employment looks like. >> this is seen as a test case for the emerging gig economy, boober and lift opposing the ordinance. a court challenge is expected.

heavy snow moving into the rockies this morning. we want to show you picture of salt lake city. it is being slammed, as much as 18 inches of snow accumulating in some areas, city officials urging drivers to avoid roads until later this afternoon. we were seeing those images coming out of denver, getting hit hard this morning, as well. >> i was looking at parts of california, visibility down to a quarter in a couple spots, quarter mile visibility, because there's wind on top of it. we've been dealing with two weather systems this week. one off the east coast that moved out. this cooled some of the temperatures enough that this next system in the rockies and pulling out had cold enough air to work with to make this a snowstorm versus a rainstorm. it's unusual that we had rain in some place versus snow. this is definitely snow. higher veilvasion that is got the heavier amounts, even now as this moves into the plain, the

heaviest corridor, parts of south dakota, nebraska into colorado should see up to a foot of snow, and ahead of this still areas from the rainstorm dealing with the flooding. especially between interstates 90 and 80, i would say, watch for that corridor of heavy snowfall and the winds, 20-30 miles an hour, so that's bog to blow that and cause that problem, as well. some of this lingers, a lot of the winter storm warning goes until tomorrow morning before more of this clears into canada. the trailinging tomorrow will pick up more moisture. that will mean rain in a couple days for the east coast. temperature witness all of this still a huge contrast. if you're ahead of that next storm, still might go 10-20 degrees above average. >> bad news if you're a snow operator in the east. the gop takedown. take five, can donald trump hold off ted cruz who is surging in the polls or will another candidate take center stage.

>> voters in san francisco deciding to approve a controversial new county jail.

>> we have people who are desperately in need of jobs. >> hear from citizens caught in the crossfire... >> we want freedom, freedom! >>...and what america can learn from chicago's ongoing gun violence. >> in politics, there is a new national poll giving donald trump his biggest lead yet hours before the last debate that 2015. trump support has grown six percentage points over 30 days. ted cruz gaining ground over ben

carson and marco rubio. a political analyst author and emmy-winning journalist said part of cruz's appeal is the challenge he presents to the republican establishment. >> he came to the senate as a guy determined to be a bomb thrower. in the sense that he said when he ran i'm not here to legislate, i'm not here to compromise, the whole system is corrupt and everything he's done as a senator has been to argue to the base of his party that he is within and believing that not just democrats and liberals in the media, but the republican establishment itself is part of the problem. so, how much the republican insiders hate him is for ted cruz not above but a feature. it's part of what he argues on behalf of his candidacy and he's premised his candidacy on the idea that the republican base and should he win the nomination lots of people not republicans are so fed up with the system

that they like the fact that he doesn't play ball. trump represents a whole other kind of outsiderness. he's the guy who has broken every single rule i thought i understood about politics, not just in terms of the what he says, but in temperament, character that i thought the kind of person that the american voter liked was the john wayne, gary cooper type, not a loud mouth, but again with trump, that's just a sign for supporters that he is on to all the corrupt losers that have been running the country, and look, if we brought -- if we went into a time machine and brought somebody back who covered politics 20 years ago and showed them this campaign, they would think we were making it up. >> that is jeff greenfield. the justice department will investigate the shooting of an unarmed black man in tennessee. he was detained during a routine traffic stop in july. police say he attacked an officer with a pair of handcuffs. that prompted the officer to shoot and kill him.

after he was not indicted by a grand jury, federal authorities were called on to investigate that case. a chicago judge acquitted a police commander on charges that he shoved his gun down a man's throat, despite evidence showing the alleged victim says d.n.a. on the gun, the judge said there were inconsists in the alleged testimony. that ruling coming at a tense time in chicago. a lot of people there say police don't treat everyone equally. as part of our series five days in chicago, we take a closer look. >> weekend after weekend, shooting after shooting, chicago has become infamous for its gun violence. >> in chicago, ten people are dead, at least 54 others injured. >> it has dominated the headlines. >> in chicago, seven people were

killed. >> giving rise to the city's nickname, chiraq. >> violence in the windy city is a catastrophe. >> and yet the city is safer than decades past. overall, violent crime is down. in 1991, there were 928 homicides in the city compared to 405 in 2014. >> it starts from the top down. >> he is fed up. he took the day off to protest. >> it always has been divisions, always been two chicagos. we've known that our whole lives. we hear shots almost every night. everybody is on pins and needles and after of a period of time, you become numb to it. i don't want us to be numb to it anymore. >> chicago is america's most segregated city with violent crime concentrated in mostly poor black communities and neighborhoods. the most dangerous neighborhoods are on the south and west sides. >> critics say more effort goes into making sure the more

affluent areas like the magnificent mile remain safe and undisturbed from the relentless violence in the more socioeconomic areas. >> i wish the mayor would be mayor for all of the city and not just for certain parts of the city. >> cook county commissioner, a vocal critic of rahm emanuel said the disparities are undeniable. >> there ought to be the same level of protection for austin, east and west garfield, englewood, lawndale, these communities have been devastated by gun violence. >> some analysts say the two chicagos cannot be equalized without a concerted effort at the community level. >> the reality is that the people in charge are not going to change anything within those communities. those communities need to have an entire effort to try and bring the change, and as long as you have areas where there is very little hope, you have -- you'll have gangs, guns, you'll have crime, you'll have murders. >> are you going to deny white privilege?

>> the schism came to a head in recent weeks, protests erupted after the release of dash cam video showing a white chicago police officer firing 16 shots, killing a black teenager. >> if one of us civilians murdered someone, we'll be in prison the next day. >> it's a tale of two cities, say some, one thriving in safe, the other in poor and perilous. >> our week long special five days in chicago continues tonight, airing at 7:00 p.m. eastern time. >> there is a new study of american jails showing inmates being held is rising, close to 700,000 people locked up an any given day, up from 157,000 in 1970. the number of jails with 1,000 beds or more soared in 2005, compared to 21 of those jails in 1970. in san francisco, voters

deciding on whether to spend more than $300 million to build a new county jail. the controversial project has divided the city. melissa chan has more. >> for opponents, it symbolizes the industrial complex. >> we are not going to support a stand alone prison to continue to lock up african-americans and latinos in this city. >> and it's unnecessary, they say, when the number of inmates in the city has dropped in recent years. >> we want to actually build a system that will make san francisco safer. we know that the jails do not make our communities safer here in san francisco. >> the mayor and sheriff's department argues that the current facility is unsafe in earthquake prone san francisco and a new building can better serve those with mental health problems. >> it's a jail that has gone way beyond its time. i was a captain there at one time, worked there at one time. i was also here during the great

overcrowding of the late 1970's and early 1990's. what we're looking at today is really replacing 1200 unusable beds with 384 targets beds that are going to be safer and a much better fit for the population that we're left with in the jails. >> the political tussle is taking place in the context of california's general battle to reduce prison population in a process called realignment. critics of the plan say that instead of a new jail, the city should focus on mental health programs and drug treatment centers. >> to commit to spending more than $300 million at this time in our history is simply wrong. >> with so many supervisors opposed, it looks likely the project will not pass, which mean the pressure is on for those who didn't want the jail to follow up with working better alternatives. melissa chan, al jazeera, san francisco. >> returning home after defecting to the u.s., major league baseball players back in cuba for the first time after

leaving that island nation to follow their dreams. first mission to space, a russian rocket en route to the international space station in an historic trip to and for the united states kingdom.

june a successful lift off this morning from kazakhstan. the u.k.'s first astronaut is onboard, an american and russian astronaut are also onboard. nasa is hiring, the space agency began accepting applications yesterday for the next generation of astronauts. recruiters say advanced degrees around required, but you will needle at least a butch lowers in a hard science like engineering or computer sciences or moth. >> cuba welcomes four baseball stars who defected to play in the u.s. in the majors, all part of a major league good will tour. it's another major milestone between the two countries. >> yasiel puig and jose abreu are bright young stars, alexei ramirez and brayan pena are veterans, all four had to defect from cuba to realize their major league dreams. now they are about to become the first defectors welcomed back as

active players, as major league baseball holds its first event in cuba since 1999. >> it's exciting. >> hall of fame manager joe torre leads the delegation. >> it's a good will trip, you know, since cuba has been opened up, we've sort of been taking baby steps. >> only 28 cuban born players were on major league rosters last season, but improving u.s. cuban relations has prompted more than 100 players to leave cuba in the past year. major league baseball reportedly wants more access to those talented cuban players and those baseball-crazy cuban fans. for their part, cuban baseball officials reportedly want to stop losing the nation's best players for nothing. instead, they envision a day when major league teams pay the cuban government for access to good cuban players. >> a u.s. entity is now going to be negotiating with a foreign

government so that they can ultimately sign a contract with a private individual. >> that could mean smaller major league pay days for the next wave of cuban stars, compared to the paydays enjoyed by current stars like cespedes, puig and tomas. tomas said the payoff for cuban defectors who miss home might just be worth it. >> as her reap i can't williams is on the cover of sports illustrated as sports pepper of the year. she is the first solo female athlete ton on ored in 30 years. it marks the first year the magazine is using the term sports person as opposed to sportsman or sports woman. thank you for watching. the news continues live from doha next with the latest on negotiations unfolding in moscow. stay with us.

>> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ good to have you with us as we begin another news hour here at al jazeera in doha. i'm adrian finighan, the top stories. saudi arabia says ground troops could form a part of a new coalition against isil. a shaky ceasefire in yemen. columbia's agreement reaches an agreement with farc rebels to compensate victims of the civil war. >> and lift off.