explorer is said to give scientists a view they have never had before. and you can always keep up to date with all of the stories we're covering, by clicking on aljazeera.com. aljazeera.com. this is one of the biggest steps towards a rewrite of our tax code we have made in many years. >> avoiding a shutdown, lawmakers are working to finalize a deal to keep the government up and running. global markets are bracing for the first possible federal reserve interest rate hike in nearly a decade. while baltimore waits for a jury to decide the faith of the first officer charged in this the death of freddy gray. all nine of the people here would make a better commander in

chief than barack obama. >> g.o.p. presidential hopefuls spar at their final debate of the year. ♪ this is al jazeera america. live from new york city. i'm patricia sabga. lawmakers are trying to finalize a trillion dollars spending deal to prevent a government shutdown. house speaker paul ryan says an agreement is in place. the deal would fund the government through 2016. it does, however, increase the deficit, expending dozens of popular tax breaks, but it also lifts the 40-year-old ban on exporting u.s. crude oil. nancy pelosi shared her concerns today about the tax and spending bill, she says, quote:

well senior washington correspondent mike viqueira is live in washington for us. mike, give us some of the highlights of this bill. >> reporter: you know, it's interesting, this is congress doing the bare minimum that it is supposed to do every year, that is alindicating or appropriating $1.1 trillion in discretionary funding to keep programs running. the brinksmanship happens every year. this is early by most standards, but still no shortage of drama, as there was a government shutdown looming. among the victories for republicans here, something they dearly wanted was a lifting of the 40-year-old ban on expoerlts of american crude oil. this has been in existence since the 1970s. many people both inside government and outside say it had outlived its usefulness, america is now an exporter of

refined oil and gasoline products, many people believe it's time for crude oil to be exported. that ban now lifted. it will have an impact on world oil prices, which as you know are already low. things that the g.o.p. didn't get -- and on balance many people are looking at this and saying the democrats in the white house perhaps came out in front on these negotiations. they didn't get the defunding of planned parenthood. there is no language in this bill restricting the immigration or the refugees status for syrian refugees. that's something that conservatives obviously had been pushing for. paul ryan spoke to reporters today and said this is the nature of compromise. >> in divided government you don't get everything you want. this is the result of a bipartisan compromise, and i think everybody can point to something that gives them a reason to be in favor of both of

these builts. >> reporter: another thing that democrats wants was a cause in the so-called cadillac tax. unions yiez these frequently. it's part of compensation packages for unions. they pushed for a pause in higher taxes on those plans, and that's what they want, a two-year pause. the white house was against that provision. >> you are talking about healthcare benefits, but what about for 9/11 first recorders? >> reporter: this had been something that was pushed by the new york and new jersey delegations, and celebrities like jon stewart who had been down to capitol hill. lifetime health care for 9/11 first responders and workers on the pile -- they called it the pile of pulverized rubble where the world trade center once stood. those first responders suffering from an number of forms of

cancers. they now get healthcare for life. >> and what about the current government funding. it expires at midnight. when will they vote on the budget, mike? >> reporter: the rest is just details at this point. they have already voted as the house, on extending the midnight tonight deadline. they will extend it to the end of the week. that means the house of representatives will photoon friday, the senate will follow shortly thereafter. president obama due to leave for his hawaiian vacation that same day. >> thanks a lot, mike. mike viqueira in washington. global financial markets are bracing for the first u.s. interest rate hike in nearly a decade. the federal reserve is expected to raise the rate a quarter of a point today. the move will increase borrowing

costs and could dampen america's paychecks, but savers will earn more on their deposits. josh is the research and policy director at the economic policy institute. he says raising interest rates will slow down an already sluggish economic recovery. >> you stop downward progress on unemployment, and that means you don't have really tight labor markets where workers can say a to their boss, i need a raise. basically it's an attempt to slow the pace of economic growth. >> he adds the fed does a much better job cooling an economy that is growing too fast, rather than stimulating a sluggish one. and the markets are shedding initial gains in anticipation of the fed's decision. the dow initially shot up 150 points at the opening bell, but it has settled back to less than 20 points.

so a bit of bouncing around there, lower oil prices are also weighing on stocks today. at last night's debate in las vegas, republican presidential candidates attacked each other and the current administration, but at sometimes their statements hovered between fact and fiction. david shuster went searching for the truth. >> we need toughness. >> reporter: it was another debate where donald trump may have connected with republican sentiments, but got his facts wrong. >> our country is out of control. people are pouring across the southern border. >> reporter: in fact, the flow of illegal immigration has dropped to its lowest level in decades, about 400,000 a year. 15 years ago, government data says the figure was 1.6 million. trump delivered a whopper when he spoke about getting tough on the families of terrorists and mentioned 9/11. >> when you have had the world trade center go, people were put into planes that were friends,

family, girlfriends, and they were put into planes and sent back for the most part to saudi arabia. they knew what was going on. they went home and they wanted to watch their boyfriends on television. >> reporter: but the comprehensive september 11th investigation found that the hijackers had largely cut off contact with their families, and none had their families in the united states. one of the nights biggest clashes involved rand paul and marco rubio. [ cheers and applause ] >> reporter: paul hit rubio hard on his support for come fre hencive immigration reform. >> he is for an open boarder. >> reporter: but the comprehensive bipartisan bill senator rubio helped write included $40 billion to strengthen border security. for his part on immigration, rubia attacked ted cruz. >> you support legalizing people who are in this country illegally. >> that is not accurate what he

just said. indeed i lead the fight against his legalization and amnesty bill. >> reporter: on that cruz was correct, and rubio was wrong. several candidates attacked president obama, carly fiorina accused the white house of not reaching out to internet companies to monitor potential threats. >> they need to be asked to bring the best and brightest, the most recent technology to the table. >> reporter: in fact, google and microsoft have been asked by the administration and have repeatedly resisted. >> reporter: ted cruz hit the administration this way. >> what the obama administration keeps getting wrong, is whenever anything bad happens they focus on law-abiding citizens. >> reporter: that is not true. after the attack in san bernardino, president obama spoke to the nation and focused mostly on the bad guys. >> in iraq and syria, ire strikes are taking out isil

leaders, heavy weapons, oil tankers, infrastructure. >> reporter: the biggest gaffe may have come from chris christie when we pledged to get allies more engaged. >> when i standing across king hussein of jordan, and say you have a friend. >> actually the king died 16 years ago, since then the leader of jordan has been his eldest son king abdullah. david shuster, al jazeera. one group of american muslims was watching the debate. they were just outside washington, d.c., and as al jazeera's bisi onile-ere found out, they had strong opinions on the candidates, the issues and most of all donald trump. >> if we exchanged the world islam to jewish none of this

would have happened. >> we're not talking about religion, we're talking about security. >> reporter: the muslim public affairs council, a non-profit group for american muslims holding this gathering. as the nine candidates faceoff, reaction heats up. >> crime, terrorism is a problem, but there are so many other things that america is facing. >> reporter: deadly attacked have rocked paris and southern california. with the u.s. us on edge, this man says islamaphobia is at its highest since 9/11. >> while the sentiment may have existed after 9/11. now it is almost acceptable. >> reporter: the group rated the candidates on issues such as the syrian refugee crisis, isil, and national security. as a republican american muslim, how do you feel about what you heard today from this debate?

>> honesty the national security focus is probably the biggest thing on muslim's minds, but isis and this whole movement in the middle east is most frightening to muslims. >> reporter: but a major topic of discussion was donald trump. >> our country is out of control, people are pouring across the southern border. >> reporter: similar proposing a temporary ban on muslims frommer tenning the u.s., he has faced a fire storm of criticism, but his poll numbers have surged. >> when he says these types of things and his popularity goes up, that's more concerning to me. >> reporter: as the race for the white house begins to heat up, she hopes the next election will unite the nation instead of divide it. on the democratic side, hillary clinton took a swing over her republican rival.

>> it defies common sense that republicans in congress refuse to make it harder for potential terrorists to buy guns. if you are too dangerous to fly, you are too dangerous to buy a gun, period. clinton says the nation needs a comprehensive strategy to defeat isil, that includes curtailing recruitment overseas and at home. the fbi director says his organization is working hard to tackle evolving threats. >> reporter: the terrorist threat we face today we have been talking about for the last two years. isil trying this model trying to inspire people and get them killed in their name. we are working on that threat all day, every day all around the country, and the key to responding to it is the partnerships of a task force. >> he says one of the hardest tools to crack is isil's use of

encrypted communications software. he says the fbi is working with tech companies to find ways to retrieve that data, while still maintaining user privacy. students and teachers in los angeles are making their way to school this morning, classes were canceled on tuesday after a threat. california's superintendent is looking at school districts across the state to determine how to best respond to what is being called a new era of threats. defense secretary ash carter is in baghdad today, part of a week-long trip to the middle east. he is talking to top military commanders about ramping up the fight against isil, and he is also explaining the u.s. decision to send more special operation troops to iraq, something baghdad doesn't want. up next, day three of deliberations an update from baltimore where jurors are

deciding the fate of the first officer charged in the death of freddy gray. and restricting sales of toy guns, one state cracks down on fake firearms. ♪

jurors are once been trying to reach a verdict in the first trial in the death of freddy gray. the jurors told the judge they were dead locked over charges. the judge ordered them to keep trying. john terrett reports from baltimore. >> reporter: it means we're looking at the possibility of a mistrial here in baltimore. what happened yesterday afternoon was the jury filed into the courtroom at about 3:30, and gave the judge a note. it turned out to have the words, we are deadlocked written on it.

the judge did the only thing he could do at this stage of the trial. he sent them back into the jury room and said try harder. they came back this morning bright and early at 8:30. they are trying to reach a verdict, we don't know what they are stuck on or what the split is, but if they come back and say we really are hopelessly dead locks. then the judge will have a conference with them, and say will anymore deliberations help? if not. they will turn to the attorneys and if they all agree, there will be a mistrial. but that's not to say that the jury can't reach a verdict. they may very welcome up with a verdict, but of course, we don't know when the decision will come in. >> that's john terrett reporting. baltimore city officials say they are prepared for more unrest in the city if and when a decision comes down.

texas says it will keep national goord troops on the border to block people from crossing over from mexico. it began in the summer of 2014 at the time that families and hundreds of minors were streaming over the border each day. al jazeera's heidi zhou castro has more. >> reporter: here we are only steps away from mexico, and with an up tick of the number children trying to cross this river into the u.s. the texas governor has called for reinforcement. 18 months ago, state patrols responded to a flow of people coming across the border. this move is in response to a new spike in the number of immigrant kids caught at the border. in the last two months, more than 6,000 children, mostly from

central america were caught in the region. that's almost double the number apprehended in the same time period last year. federal officials took drastic steps last week to make temporary living quarters for nearly a thousand of those children who recently crossed. they are staying at summer camps further north. texas leaders have criticized the move saying the children's presence is burden and a security risk. with their extended deployment, national guard troops will remain at strategic locations along the border to deter legal crossings. the governor has also called for state troopers to increase their presence here. for the first time in more than 20 years most americans say they are against banning assault weapons. a new "washington post" abc poll found 53% of people surveyed

said they are against banning the sale of assault weapons. the poll also shows that few people are confident the government will be able to stop loan wolf attacks. meanwhile new york state is starting to crack down on those toy guns that look real. >> reporter: under pressure from new york's attorney general, 30 online retailers who sell on amazon have agreed to no longer offer some toy guns to new york residents. >> year after year, we have found that retailers such as wal-mart, amazon, and kmart chose profit over safety and put thousands of new york kids and police officers at the risk of a tragic and deadly encounter. >> reporter: a new york law prohibits the sail of those toy guns in the state unless they feature a brightly colored tip

to show they are not real. but the company still sold thousands of replica guns in the state in recent years. a similar gun was the one when tamir rice was shot and killed by police. those stores also agreed to stop selling those replica guns. gun safety advocates say new york's campaign against realistic-looking toy guns needs to be expanded nationwide. >> the fact that congress has chosen not to regulate this pervasive andlettel consumer product is a great tragedy and a shame that americans need to do something about. >> reporter: half a dozen states have laws on the books dealing with toy guns. another seven have introduced legislation to create or amend

such laws. the washington state hsz assist important football coach who was suspended for praying mid-feel at games has filed a discriminate suit. he alleged that the school district diskrim nated against him when it suspended him in october. he has been performing the postgame prayers since 2008. he says he feels his freedom of express has been violated. when the district suspended kennedy, it said his actions violated the constitutional rights of students. up next, good intentions gone wrong, where one man's marriage proposal could land him in jail. and it hasn't even released here in the u.s., but "star wars" is already breaking box office records.

a frightening scene in nashville. this southwest airlines jet rolled off the runway last night. eight people were hurt. the faa is trying to figure out what happened. investigators say they don't believe weather was a factor. a once in a lifetime wedding proposal might land a houston

love bird in jail. check out this video posted on instagram. showing the couple standing on houston's busiest highway. the man worked with friends to stop traffic on all of the lanes. he now facess -- misdee mean yor charges for doing that. but his girlfriend did say yes. well the latest installment in the "star wars" saga, "the force awakens," is scheduled to open in the u.s. on friday. but the wait is over for french "star wars" fans. gerald tan has more on the excite surrounding its release. >> reporter: star wars: the force awakens, is finally released to the public. fans in france are among the first in the world to see the

film when more than half a million people have already prebooked their tickets. >> translator: it reminds us of yourt, and watching the episodes again with our children, our teenagers, that's nice. and then a catching the rest of the movies with them, that's even better. >> translator: we're wondering what it will be like even with harrison ford in it. we'll still go see it, but what is it going to be like to continue the franchise? is it going to turn a really great saga into something bad? >> reporter: the film is creating ripples of excitement as it is gradually released in some countries ahead of the u.s. release on friday. merchandising tied to the film will likely bring in billions in revenue for the walt disney company which brought the franchise three years ago. >> translator: i am actually happy that disney has bought the movie franchise. they brought all of the old

cast. i watched the trailer so many times, and every time i cry. since the trilogy began in 1977, it has turned into a cultur cultural phenomenon. war stars won't be in theaters here until friday. the movie is already making history. ♪ >> nothing will stand in our way. i will finish. >> reporter: advanced ticket sales for the force awakens have now exceeded $100 million in north america, that's the most ever. well, two giraffes at the san diego zoo are getting special treatment to help them hope with the loss of their mom. and it's a special treat for the zoo's visitors too since it's so cute. they are getting bottle service

so they can keep feeding without teeth. [ gunfire ] as fighting continues in yemen, the warring parties exchange hundreds of prisoners during u.n.-backed peace talks. ♪ i'm lauren taylor this is al jazeera live from london. global concern over vulnerable oil fields in libya as it's estimated that isil is making $40 million a mosht from selling stolen oil. could the u.s. about to see its first interest rate rise in ten years? the pakistani children determined to get an education, one year on from t