we're survivors, we're detroiters. >> heidi zhou-castro. al jazeera, detroit. >>> you know, dot com, dotorg, you can choose anything you want. also nonenglish, like arabic and chinese. it is the biggest extension of the internet to date. the new dough nains g domains gn the next couple of weeks. >>> next up, how stem cells are helping some patients. >>> i'm john henry, we have news about a key player in the world series. coming up inon al jazeera sports. a. >> welcome back to al jazeera america. strokes are usually associated with older people but increasingly associated with the young. people between ages of 20 and 64 suffer 20% more strokes than they did a few years ago. a number of factors lead to strokes, smoking, junk foods and leading stressful lives. may double for 2030. for tens of thousands of kidney patients a transplant can be a new lease on life. but a potential of risks and lifetime of expensive medications. medical researchers in chicago are helping to change all that. usher karishi has more. >> when 40-year-old craig was diag

the shutdown is hitting texas especially hard as heidi zhou castro explains the lone star state has theghest number of deadly construction site accidents. >> as the dallas office of the occupational health administration administration or osha sits almost empty with all but two of its inspectors furloughed. a construction site just blocks away buzzes with activity. during the government shutdown osha will only investigate cases of grave danger and death. random safety inspections are suspended. that leaves texas construction workers, a workforce that is predominantly latino and foreign borne, at greater risk for exploitation. >> there could be more accidents, he says. >> a member of the workers defense project, a non-profit behind the study that found texas to be the most dangerous place in the country for construction workers. factoring in this conclusion the state is the only one in the station without han mandatory workers comp. >> the only legal tool we have is osha. >> reporter: our calls to osha were not returned. it leads to a recording. >> reporter: 105 workers died in construct

heidi zhou castro, al jazeera, houston. >> conservationists say a recent searching in elephant poach something putting the world's biggest land mammal on the brink of extinction. thursday hong kong officials seize the ivory. now with protests taking place from australia to tunsinea. >> 334 marchs taking part, many in the united states, new york, los angeles, san francisco. this is about highlighting the december imagination of the elephant population. thousands of elephants were killed last year for the ivory. and hong kong is the transit point for much of the trade. ornaments, trinkets which head into china. many of these ornaments are sold. yesterday we saw yet another custom seizure here in hong ko hong kong, 189 tusks were seized worth $1.5 million u.s. al jazeera, hong kong. >> animal rights groups are calling for china to destroy it's entire stock pile before it makes its way into the hands of illegal traders. >>> pope francis visited the i will side town of assisi today where his chosen namesake, st. francis, renounced his wordily possessions and lived a life for the poor. he

heidi zhou castro, al jazeera, el passo. >>> jpmorgan is paying more than $5 billion in penalties for bad home loans and bonds it sold to fannie mae and freddie mac all leading up to the u.s. financial crisis. the loans went bad and the bank is facing a long list of state and federal investigations over misleading invest fors. daniel wagner who is a senior financial reporter at the center for public integrity, and he covered the mortgage meltdown in 2007, he is with us now. welcome. >> thanks so much. >> we heard a lot about this $13 billion that jpmorgan might day so would the $5 billion be part of the $13 billion? >> most of the $5 billion was to be part of the $13 billion. but it has apparently hit some snags, and so this particular regulator, which is the group that oversees fannie mae and freddie mac, the mortgage giants, owned by the government decided to break off and do its own $5.1 billion settlement today. >> so the $5 billion, where does this money go? >> this money will be returned to fannie mae and freddie mac, and if you think back to the crisis or right before it peaked

. >> meanwhile heidi zhou castro is in houston, heidi? >> reporter: hey, morgan, take a look at the walls of this restaurant. this tells the story of how important the nasa community is here to frenchy's. it's been around since 1979 almost as long as johnson space center has been here next door. frankie, you're the owner here. you care a lot about your clients, most of whom work next door righ right right now work o longer next door. >> yes, we've been here since 1979, and we make all the astronauts, nasa people. you're like family because they go to school--their kids go to school with your kids, they are family. >> it's certainly a hit, like family i know you're trying to help this community get through this as well. >> thank you so much, heidi. stay with al jazeera. s2úq@eñsy$x >>> i'm amanda purr row. >> i'm in the jordan valley looking at how simple principles are bringing the desert to life. >> i'm in new york, where

heidi zhou castro is outside republican texas senator ted cruz's office in dallas, texas where furloughedorkers are rallying today. what groups are protesting behind you there, heidi? >> reporter: dell, the group that originally called this protest are to my right, and they are furloughed workers, joining some other groups as well, the alliance for retired americans, but to my right, notably are pro-ted cruz supporters, including his own father who are here to have their voices heard as well. the protesters that called the gathering are trying to end the shutdown, raise the debt ceiling, and end the political gains that are costing a lot of these workers their paychecks. one of them is with me right now. you work for the social security administration and you are not getting a paycheck. how is that impacting your budget? >> well, i don't have to worry too much, i had some money set aside. and i'm using that. my house payment was due today so i used some money to pay that, but there are people i work with that are single parents or couples that work for social security so neither husband n

heidi zhou-castro is live. do they think they can stop this new law from taking place? >> well, del, they are trying to get an injunction against thing law. similar injunctions have been held temporarily from enforcement of these other legal challenges. here in austin, the court has in the past sided with the state on other abortion cases. planned parenthood has said, if these laws go into effect a third of the clinics will have to stop abortions. this will result in an abortion blackout in practical terms in the entire western half of texas. university of texas study citing that 22,000 women would be denied access to abortions next year. now attorneys for planned parenthoods for the aclu are arguing now that this law as a result is unconstitutional. and again, it does take effect next tuesday. now what the part of this law that they're really taking -- that they're really arguing is the part that says an abortion dork or the must have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of a clinic. now these providers say that's difficult because many abortion doctors t

. >> heidi zhou castro, thank you very much. >>> secretary of state john kerry is in france. he is there for talks on advancing the middle east peace process, but those meetings are being overshadowed by a new diplomatictive. france is upset about new revelations of the national security agency and it's surveillance operations. in it case it seems that they are surveilling the french. phil ittner joins us from london, what can you tell us. >> reporter: the same day that secretary of state john kerry arrived in france, an article coauthored by the same man who broke the nsa eavesdropping story, that article published in the french daily "le monde" basically e posing several nsa operations that concerned french population not least of which the claim that some 70 million phone calls or phone records from monitored by the nsa in just one month. that's 70 million in just one month. now the french have responded to this quite angrily. they have summoned the u.s. ambassador to the foreign ministry to explain just exactly what it is that the nsa has been up to. >> phil, is this real

. >> reporter: heidi zhou castro, al jazeera, austin. >>> a suicide bomb attack in southern russia isdding to concerns about security at the up coming winter olympics. the separatist group is promising to make sure the games never take place. >> reporter: the moment the suicide bomber detonated her device was caught on a car's dashboard camera. she had just boarded the bus which had 40 people on board, many of them teenage students. she has been named, a 30 year old. investigators who found her documents at the scene say she was suffering from a degenerative bone disease. her husband who is 22 was converted to islam by her last year, and now goes by the name of abdul-jabbar. he is believed to be in dageston. investigators alledge he is an expert in explosives, and has joined a group. they say he has been implicated in other attacks. >> translator: the leader of the movement recorded a video earlier this year, calling on his forces to ensure the winter olympics did not take place. >> translator: this was most probably something like a test shot ahead of the olympics. the international

heidi zhou-castro reports. >> reporter: at the convention center where she received her high school diplomadavis is beginning her quest of graduating from state senator to governor of texas. >> i am proud to announce my candidacy -- [ cheers ] >> -- to be the 48th governor of this great state! [ cheers and applause ] >> reporter: the annual non-partisan report out this week shows davis trailing her likely opponent 29-21 with 50% undecided. a dallas republican media consult act who worked on mitt romney myth's campaign said those numbers got his tension. >> 50% undecided in the race. number one it's awfully herbal and people have not gotten engaged in the race. they know the candidates but they haven't looked at it very closely, and then that seems like an awfully high number, and if i was general abbet i would be a little concerns. >> reporter: he says the only way that davis can win over the red state is if her opponent commits errors which is unlikely. davis's fund-raising pails in compare to abbott, but it is early, and she can have a positive impact on the democratic party even if she l

. >> reporter: heidi zhou castro, al jazeera, detroit. >>> it's time for sport now and here is joe. >u very much. we start with formula one and this sunday's grand prix will go ahead as planned. the country's top court delayed a hearing until next week. one of those who will be glad of the news is the three-time reigning champion, he stands on the verge of a fourth world title. >>> heavy fog forced friday's practice sessions to be canceled at the japanese grand prix. heavy rain is forecast for saturday. mark marquez holds an 8-point lead in the championship standings. >> now that we have missed friday's free practice one and two, we're looking at a schedule for saturday and sunday where we believe the weather will improve. so we have many options. we've just had a meeting with the teems explain that we are going to try to run tomorrow as much as possible and a revised schedule for sunday if necessary. >>> on to world series where the st. louis cardinals have leveled things up with a the boston secretary of state at a game apiece. david ortiz lived up to his big papi nickname. then the

heidi zhou-castro joins us. how has the governor reacted to this ruling? >> john perry put out a statement, will not stop our ongoing effort to protect life and ensure the women of our state are not exposed to any more of the abortion mill horror stories that have made headlines recently. john that statement falling in line with the restrictions of women's health. >> i believe these were to go into effect tomorrow. whawhat happens now? >> now there is this injunction and it would have drastically impacted the work of the abortion clinics which i'm in front of right now. that element was the requirement of abortion doctors to get admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of a clinic. on that rule the judge said that it was an irrational and it would place undue burden on women. now there was another element that judge did rule on as well. that one requiring doctors to follow a strict fda approved drug protocol when giving patients abortion inducing drugs. that was left up to the judge's interpretation when a doctor could not follow those directions

as heidi zhou-castro reports, some employees are trying to figure out how to get their back pay once the shutdown ends. >> it's quiet here at the johnson space center where workers are if you are load. 3,000 people were told to go home. not all of them are there waiting. some are taking action. >> how many of you all have families? everyone. how many of you are single parents? >> how do you raise children and pay bills when your paycheck is on indefinite hold? these nasa employees, also members of the federal union afge face that question. >> i have a mortgage that has to be paid. >> i'm living from paycheck to paycheck. >> six workers are with nasa. they are if you are load. the other four are with the department of veteran affairs and could be let go next week. >> call your representatives, the number is... >> local 2284 president called this meeting in her living room to prepare for a protest planned for saturday. >> we hope to get congress' attention and the american people attention to put us back to work so we can continue to service the american people. >> most say they could

heidi zhou-castro looks at the battle over immigration and the roadblock to comprehensive reform. >> bridge between juarez and elpassa texas separates hunger for opportunity, promise of the american dream. tony payan crosses it once a month. the professor of plil cat science teaches on both sides of the border. he wants congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform, but doubts it will happen under obama's leaders. >> i don't think it's a matter in president obama's hear. >> he says the border community awaited for border reform only to be let down. in june, on a 68-32, the democratic controlled senate passed a support by barack obama. it went nowhere in the republican controlled house of representatives. speaker john boehner supports immigration reform, buts has not committed to the senate plan, which offers 11 million undocumented immigrants a chance to become citizens after a 13-year wait. >> this is where the fence begins at this point for el paso. >> the path to citizenship was coupled with provisions to increase boarder security. the senate plan doubles border patrol agents

heidi zhou-castro, aljazeera, austin. >> that texas law is one of the toughest in the nation. those who oppose it say it would force a third of the 36 clinics that provide abortion to say close. >> more testimony ahead on capitol hill about the botched rollout of the affordable care website. marlin tavenner will testify, the head of the centers for medicare and medicated services. she will be the first administration official from that agency to testify before congress about the health care law. health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius is going to get her turn to governor within owned. she will be the highest ranking if i believe so far to face congress about the troubled womanout. that capitol hill appearance will be her first since the launch of the website on october 1. some republicans say that she should resign, but president obama says he still has faith in her. >> joining us now with a progress report on where the website and the insurance plans stand is alan while in washington, d.c. why is a policy maker like case being asked to testify when it's a flawed

heidi zhou-castro is following this. >> in their words leaving for practical purposes an abortion blackout in the western half of texas with the exception of only elpaso. a university of texas study find 22,000 women will be denied abortion services next year alone so attorneys for those abortion providers as well as the aclu are asking for an injunction. they say the law is unconstitutional and cannot be enforced starting tuesday. >>> there are severely portions of the law, the part of it offering the most trouble for abortion providers is the requirement that a doctor must have admitting privileges within 30 miles of the abortion clinic. that's difficult here in texas because many of those doctors travel from major cities to these more rural clinics to provide abortions. but hospitals though in those rural areas require that doctors sometimes have residence within that local community. other hospitals require that a doctor submit a certain minimum number of patients per year. abortions are outpatient procedures and doctors try to keep their patients out of the hospital. so planned parent

heidi zhou castro joins us from austin for more on the ruling, heidi? >> reporter: hey, tony, well, tomorrow there will not be abortions after 20 weeks. that ban that was passed by the last legislative session in texas remains in place. it was the one element not on tested in court this month. the other two elements that abortion clinics say would put a third of them out of business, those will not be enforced starting tomorrow. now the judge deemed one of those restrictions that required abortion doctors to get admitting privileges to a hospital within 30 miles of the clinic, the judge ruled that that was irrational and places illegal obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion. anthe judge upheld and added a caveat saying it would be up to the abortion doctor to determine whether that rule endangers the life or health of that patient. now the clinics have reacted to this ruling calling today's development as a dangerous law. i'm told by whole women's health one of the plaintiffs on the phone all day with their patients assuring them that tomor

as heidi zhou-castro reports, the senator is garnering support in the lone star state and beyond. >> alice kinsey is a federal worker living pay check to pay check. they are not coming and she's struggling to pay her bills. >> today i used property tax money to make my mortgage payment. you know, depending on how long we go, you know, dip into retirement or, you know, investments, savings, things like that. [ chants ] >> alice kinsey joined with 40 labor union members against u.s. senator ted cruz, who they say is an issuing straiter of the shutdown. >> i don't think the tea party should be allowed to hold the rest of the country to ransom because there's laws they don't like. i think ted cruz is a spokesman for them and it's causing more people having the thoughts that are un-american and un-democratic. >> venture 30 miles south of dallas, and you get a new take on ted cruz. voters in ellis county gave cruz a 44 point victory in 2012. most folks tell us today they see ted cruz as a hero. >> i voted for him, and i support him. i support what he's doing, i sure do. >> i feel like he's

. >> heidi zhou-castro visited a houston diner that welcomed back nasa workers. >> people in clear lake city is happy that the shutdown is over. the community sprung up to support nasa. the furlough was tough on the community. finally at frenchies, a local restaurant talked away from johnson space center - business is up. you can see from the walls how important nasa is to supporting the restaurant. and how important the nasa employees are, and that brings us to bridget. thank you for joining us. you work in the payroll department at nasa. you are back to work today after 16 days. how does that feel? >> it feels great to be back at work. that's all we wanted, to go back to work to serve the american people. >> i imagine the last two weeks though must have been hard on you and your family. how did you get through it? >> i went to the bank wednesday. i didn't know how much longer we would be out and moved a lot of money around to cover my bills that was coming up due. >> you happen to work for the payroll department. i imagine you've been taking questions from your fellow employees about

. >>> as heidi can ask zhou-castro reports. >> the alamo is sacred ground for most texans. nowadays, some de texas texans e waiving guns as gun rights are being attacked. >>> on a normal weekend the historic alamo would be swarming with tourists. but on this day, people carrying rifles, shotguns and assault weapons filled plaza. texas state law bars people from openly carrying handguns but there's no regulation of carrying a loaded long gun in public. >> we are not a civil disobedience organization. we obey the law. >> gun rights groups called the rally after san antonio police arrest evidence people from carrying long guns outside a coffee shop. protesters say this arrests conflicted with state law. san antonio police suspended its enforcement from this rally. leaving some with concerns. >> stomach turning, when i walk through crowd and see all these people with guns it scarce the heck out of me. >> meanwhile the pro-gun reform group, moms demand action, held its meeting blocks away. the membership has swelled since sandy hook. >> it's legal but i don't see it's decent, it