john henry smith takes a closer look. [ cheers and applause ] >> reporter: old school sports fandom,ollow your team. new sports fandom, follow your fantasy league. rick runs a season that runs as long as the real season. >> yes, i'm a jets fan. but to also make some money along the way makes that that much more exciting. >> reporter: the winner of rick's league takes home hundreds of dollars. but for those of you who don't want to wait that long to win, there's a new way to play. if you have watched any major sports programming this year, you have no doubt seen these ads. fan duals, are paying $75 million a week with a immediate cash payout. >> reporter: daily fantasy leagues offer the chance to win week. >> i have won to date so far, profit, almost $5,000. >> reporter: they offer their ability to play for high stakes with a cost to pay that could be as low as a single dollar, sometimes even less. and that's made for an army of converts and made powerhouses out of the industry's two biggest competitors. draft kings and fan duel are now valued at more than a billion dollars each, than

john henry smith.l jazeera. >>> the video in south carolina is just the latest putting more focus on law enforcement. president obama speaks to police chiefs in afternoon. james comby spoke to the same group on monday. >> reporter: james comey says the increased violence nationwide could be because of decreased police department. >> each time somebody interprets hashtag black lives matter against policemen, one line moves away. and maybe because the lines are arking away from each other, we have a crisis of violent crime in some of our major cities in this country. >> reporter: monday he spoke to thousands of police chiefs and top law enforcement in chicago, and talked about the so-called ferguson effect, the idea that police across the country have pulled back, slowed down law enforcement in response to the protests over the shooting of michael brown in 2014. comy said he couldn't be sure that's happening, but we said it was common sense. amnesty international reacted saying: the obama administration

john henry smith has more. >> this is a big blow.ig blow. >> reporter: as this prayer vigil went on, the drum set sat entity. the man who played them was shot dead sunday by a police officer. >> he worked hard. he was everything you needed in a son. >> jones and his band, the future presidents played their final gig just after midnight. >> everything seemed normal. corey was completely himself. >> reporter: hours later jones' car broke down. around 2:00 am he called a band mate for help, and then he called a tow truck. but while he was wearing this officer wearing plane clothes and driving an unmarked car, stopped to investigate what he said he thought was an an abandoned car. in a state they said quote: >>> police have not said what sort of weapon jones had. jones did have a cline police record, but also had a permit for a gun. friends say he was not a violent person. >> i don't understand how anyone could ever perceive corey as -- as a threat, whatsoever. he is the most level-headed calm, kind person. >> he never got in any trouble

john henry smith reports. >> reporter: assistant coach joe kennedy was back praying thursday night.ut he prayed from the stands not from the field. >> i never wanted any legal stuff. i didn't want any problems. i just wanted to give thanks for my team out there. >> reporter: the school district suspended kennedy the day before after he repeatedly ignored a school mandate. >> i don't understand why america has come to this, when i thought it was so pure and -- hopefully we'll get it straightened out. >> reporter: this group of self-described satanists were there too, protesting kennedy's practice. the debate has even reached capitol hill. >> protecting one coach's right to pray, protects every person's right to pray. >> reporter: in the stands the opinion was more mixed. >> i support his right to pray. everybody has the right to pray. it's a just not the right venue. >> separation of church and state, i get that, but that's not really not what he is doing. >> he is not forcing prayer on the kids. he is just doing it on his own, and if the kids want to join in, i think that's perfectl

john henry smith has more. >> fire department officials in and around st. louis say they have no doubt the fires that have burned citizen churches there are the work of an arsonist. >> they say it is suspicious in nature. >> the new north side missionary baptist church is one of the churches set aplays. all are within three miles of each other. each has seen an entrance set on fire. >> what i would like to see happening is number one, i would like to see them caught. and whoever they are, that they can face justice. >> and the leader of the new nor side said that it does not seem like locals are taking it seriously. >> national media, yet, while investigators say that they don't have any suspects, they also say its likely one person is responsible for the rash of fires. there is a $2,000 reward for any information leading to an arrest. >> it is appalling that someone would doing i do something like that. >> at new live missionary baptist another church has burned. dozens came together for an outdoor service a day after the fire there, showing amazing grace

john henry smith has more. >> reporter: it was created after the september 11th attacks.he nypd calls it the democratics unit. and from 2003, to 2014, it kept secret tabs on muslim americans without any evidence of criminal activity. >> what is the lead that sends them into our organization? >> reporter: angry muslims filed a series of lawsuits against the department. but they were thrown out. now a federal appeals court has reinstated the case. the judge wrote, quote: 20 months ago, federal judge dismissed the case, ruling that the surveillance program was designed to stop attacks, not to target muslims. and then police chief ray kelly offered this defense of the program at the time. >> we intend to continue to do the things that we believe we have to do to protect new york city, certainly the number one terrorist target in this country. >> reporter: the demographics unit was disbanded in 2014. police have admitted the program never generated a lead. john henry smith, al jazeera. >>> several baltimore police officers charged in the death of freddie gray have lost a battl

. >> al jazeera's john henry smith is here with more. what a game. lot of effects are tired this morning. >> if you stayed up and watched you are exhausted. epic. game one tied for the longest world series game. after more than five hours the royals walked away from kansas city. jumping out to an early lead. mesk connected on matt -- mesk connected on matt alcides escobar connected on the matt harvey. 2-1 lead later. two outs, runner on in the i think. eric hosmer error of the the mets clung to a 1 lf 1 lead. a home run center field and in the 14th bases loaded. it was eric hosmer, macking up for his error with a sacrifice to win the game. royals beating the mets 5-4. the game was delayed for several minutes when the broadcast truck went down. managers could not watch the replays and coast plays. it was a bittersweet night for the riles starting pitcher. after the game he learnt his father died in the dominican republic, his wife asked that he not be fold so he could pitch with a clear head. a tough night for the mets fanls. there's another game. >>

. >> say the man had a weapon but those who knew the young man are not buying it and john henry smithore. >> this is a big blow. a big blow. >> reporter: as this pray vigil went on in a florida church the drum set sat empty, the man who played it 31-year-old korey jones died sunday, shot dead by a police officer. >> he was a drummer. i mean he worked hard. he was i mean he was everything you needed in a son. >> reporter: jones and his band the future presidents played what would be their final gig sunday night. >> everything seemed normal, corey was completely himself, shook hands and gave each other high 5 and he left. >> reporter: hours later his car broke down around 2:00 a.m. he called a band mate for help and then he called a tow truck but while he was waiting police say the officer wearing plain clothes and driving the unmarked car stopped to investigate what he believed was an abandon car. police have not released many details but said in a statement the officer who has only been on the force for six months quote was suddenly confronted by an armed subject as a result of the co

john henry smith is here with more. the question is who knew what when. >> exactly. there's still no evidence that top v.w. management in germany knew their diesel cars were equipped with software to cheat on emission tests. michael horn said he was told about the problem with the emissions as far back as 2014. >> the admission is just a few lines into michael horn's statement. he says in the spring of 2014, i was told that there was a possible emissions non-compliance that could be remedied. later in 2014, i was informed that the technical teams had a specific plan for remedies to bring the vehicles into compliance and that they were engaged with the agencies about the process, but it wasn't until last month that v.w. admitted to federal regulators that the cars had that defeat device that let them cheat on emission tests. in his testimony, horn says volkswagen of america has withdrawn its application for e.p.a. certification for new model cars with diesel engines until they comply with emissions standards. horn offered this confession shortly after the scandal brok

i'm constantly on the phone, fan duel, it's a ten-hour day for me. >> john henry smith.l jazeera. >> 41 years ago a young frenchman named philippe petit pulled off a death-defying feat. he walked on a high wire on the world trade center. we talked to the real philippe petit and asked how much planning went into the legendary walk. >> i have to tell you it took me six and a half years but not of daily work from the moment i start dreaming about the towers, they were not built then, from the moment i spent foot between them and the work. >> you brought a piece of the cable that you used to walk between the two world center towers. obviously that's heavy stuff. >> i would lend it to you, because it would break at 60 tons. >> 60 tons. >> yes, and you shot this with a bow and arrow? >> not actually. this is so heavy. what i did was pass a fishing line with a bow and arrow, and then we pulled--my friend was on the other tower, we pulled across a cord, and then a rope, and then a heavy rope, and then the very heavy cable. it took us all night. >> while you're watching this happ

john henry smith has more. >> reporter: volkswagen officials say this new suspect software is in 2016r vehicles, the same ones the auto maker has now pulled from the market. the software makes the pollution control catalyst heat up faster, improving performance. many cars have sim systems, but vw never disclosed its existence to regulators, which all car makers are expected to do if they want to receive certification to sell their cars in the u.s. this is different than the so-called defeat devices. the presence of those devices, designed to fool emissions test, has the company facing billions of dollars in recalls, fines, and civil lawsuits. the company insists its top executives never signed off on on the devoiceses. >> to my best knowledge today, no board member has authorized this, this was a couple of software engineered who put this in for whatever reasons. >> reporter: but the man who will become the new leader has retired rather than take the job. he had just taken the post in september. in a statement the company said, quote: vw's ceo was forced out shortly after the scandal

john henry smith has the story. >> reporter: for nine years running this football coach joe kennedy hasn leading his players in postgame prayers. but when he continued that tradition last friday night, he was violating on order from the district that said, quote: >> i don't want to break the law. and i -- don't want to set a bad example, and i don't want to jeopardize the program we have set up if something goes wrong and we get sued. >> reporter: many players and parents say they support him. >> he shouldn't lose his job for what he practices at the end of the game. >> reporter: and the school district has said it has no plans to fire kennedy, writing in a statement: the conservative liberty institute, a legal defense sfund backing the coach. in a letter to the school district, it says: >> private citizens on the own time have a right to practice their faith, and we think it's very important at liberty institute to protect that right. >> i don't understand how this can be wrong. i'm not establishing religion, i'm not preachy with anybody. >>> 22 people under arrest today after police u

john henry smith has the story. >> reporter: inmates have been helping to fight wildfires in californiaince 1946. it is the oldest such program in the nation. >> the priority has always been the safety of the public and employees. >> reporter: but now prison officials are proposing to allow inmates convicted of assaults, robberies and other violent crimes into the program. >> maybe we can include them because of their good behavior over the last ten years or so in prison. >> reporter: a shrinking prison population has contributed to declining number of inmate firefighters. >> we have had a record year this year, that only eclipsed the record of wildfires we had last year, so if that's the trend for the future, we want to make sure we have enough inmates available to fight those fires. >> reporter: arsonists, sex of fenningers, kidnappers, gang members and those serving life sentences for murder would still be excluded. but some professional firefighters are worried. >> my concern is the safety of our captains with one person managing such a large group of inmates without additional help

>> reporter: john henry smith, al jazeera. >>> russia is giving google one month to clean up anti-trustblems or phase heavy fines. russia's anti-monopoly watchdog says googles practices violate russian law. android phones have google apps preloaded. three-quarters of all smartphones in russia run that operating system. >>> a european court decision today could make it a lot more difficult for american tech companies to do business with europe. it ruled that european law does not protect its citizen's personal data in the united states. >> reporter: the ruling by europe's highest court is a victory for privacy activist max. he has fought for years to get the european law thrown out. >> i never thought it was going to be a big thing in the beginning. we were just putting facts up on the website. what we got from facebook the complaints were drafted over two nights and suddenly you are in this whole privacy debate in the end. >> reporter: the case eventually ended up in the european high court. the 27 year old graduate student argued that his data protection rights were violated when faceb

as john henry smith reports that is part of a trend across the league. >> reporter: for the first timece 1987 baseball is on track to enter next season with no black managers. lloyd the only one this past season was fired by the mariners just after the regular season ended. >> i would guess there are some who are very sensitive about this topic. >> reporter: tony clark played in the majors for 15 years. he says the lack of back managers is part of a broader trend of african american's disappearing from the game. >> the numbers reflect what the numbers reflect, as players the numbers are declining. as managers the numbers have all buddies appeared. >> reporter: the league says it is doing all it can to bring in coaches and managers. in a written statement, the commissioner said, quote: but mlb's first black manager, frank robinson, says think problem won't really be solved until there are more african americans making the hires decisions. dave stewart is the only black manager in the majors today. >> if you have more african americans in the front office in positions of hire, you will s

john henry smith has more. >> reporter: the announcement from the nevada state gaming board means sitese draft kings and fan duel are no longer allowed to operate there. both companies have long argued that players kin based on their skills and that what they do on the sites not gambling. without mentioning either side by name the head wrote: gaming is a multi-billion dollars industry in nevada, the fantasy websites have raked in $60 million in entry fees so far this reason. a spokesperson said, quote: the website fan duel also responded saying, quote: nevada's ruling means there are now six states where the fantasy sports siteings are not allowed. the nevada ruling is the latest blow this week for the industry. on thursday, the fbi and the justice department said they are investigating fantasy sports sites to determine if they violate federal law. and new jersey lawmakers have again called for a congressional hearing on this fast-growing industry. >> at this point with it being an industry where companies are valued at over $1 billion, it's imperative that draft kings as well as others

al jazeera's john henry smith has more. >> reporter: volkswagen officials say this new suspect software016 model year vehicles. the sames ones the company has pulled from the market. many cars have similar systems, but wv never disclosed its existence to regulators, which all car make rs are expected to do if they want to receive epa certification to sell their cars in the u.s. this is different than the so-called defeat devices, installed on so many of the company's 2009 through 2015 models. those devices has the company facing billions of dollars in fines and lawsuits. the company insists its top executives never signed off on those devices. >> this was a couple of software engineers who put this in for whatever reasons. >> reporter: but the man who would have become the new leader of vw north american operations has retired before taking the job. the company said, quote frpt vw's ceo martin winterkorn was forced out shortly after the scandal came to light. >>> thanks for joining us. i'm del walters in new york. the news continues next live from london, and a reminder you can get the

john henry smith, al jazeera. >>> that video in south carolina, is just the latest that put as spotlight on excessive force by police. it could be an issue when president obama addresses police chiefs in a couple of hours. james comb my spoke to the same group on monday. a rise in crime is one of the things talked about. the recent increase in part because police officers are under increwsed scrutiny. and he also point as finning ther at the national debate over the black lives matter movement. >> each time somebody interpreted it as afternoonty law enforcement, one line moves away, and someone that interrepresents #police lives matter as antiblack, the other line moves away, and maybe just maybe, in some places because those lines are arcing from each other, question have a crisis of violent crime in some of our major cities in this country. >> monday he spoke to thousands of police chiefs and top law enforcement in chicago. and he talked about the so called ferguson effect, the idea that police across the country have pulled back vowed down law enforcement. in response so the protest o

i'm john henry smith. this morning authorities in oregon are trying to figure out the motive for a mass shooting at a community college. police say at least nine people died, seven others were injured. the shooter was killed in an exchange of gunfire with police. the incident shattered yelt another community. roseburg is a small city in western oregon about 70 miles south of eugene. the umpqua community college is a center part of the city with 3,000 students, nearly everyone knows someone that goes there. the president said it's not enough to offer prayers to victims of the families. >> somehow this has become routine. the reporting is routine. my response here at this podium ends up being routine. the conversation in the aftermath of it. we've become numb to this. >> alan is live this morning in roseburg outside the public safety center. alan, are investigators any closer to knowing a motive for this attack? >> reporter: john henry, we really don't know at this point. we don't know much more than we did

john henry smith has been tracking it for us. >> the company has learned that it will have to hire itssecond head of north american operations in just three weeks. all of this less than a month after v.w. first admitted having software on its diesel cars that cheated emission standards. >> volkswagen officials say this new suspect software is in 2016 model year vehicles. the same ones the automakers has now pulled from the market. the software makes the pollution control catalyst heat up faster, improving performance. many cars have similar systems, but v.w. never disclosed its existence to regulators, which all carmakers are supposed to do if they want certification to sell their cars in the u.s. this is different than the so-called defeat devices installed on so many 2009 through 2015 models. the presence of those devices, designed to fool emissions tests has the company facing billions of dollars in recalls, fines and civil lawsuits. the company insists its top executives never signed off on those devices. >> to my best knowledge today, the corporation and no board meeting or superv

al jazeera's john henry smith has our story. >> reporter: witnesses say deputy ben fields went to thelassroom at spring valley high school in columbia, south carolina when a teacher complained that a student would not get off her cell phone. >> the student was asked to leave the class several times by the instructor at the school, assistant principal was there as well and the officer was called on scene to actually have the student removed from that location. the student refused and the officer acted that you see on the video. >> come with me or i'll make you. >> reporter: on one version of the video fields is heard ordering the girl to stand. when she refuses he grabs her, flipping the girl over and throwing her to the ground. now a county sheriff says that deputy should never be assigned to work as a school resource officer again and according to a spokesman the sheriff was, quote, very disturbed by what he saw. >> of course we will look at what happened to led up to it, that incident that took place and what happened afterwards and all of that will take part in what the sheriff dec

john henry smith takes a closer look. >> reporter: inmates have been helping to battle wildfires since 1976. and it's the oldest program in the nation. >> our priority has always been the safety of the public, of our own employees, and the ability to respond to natural disasters and work that the inmates do on a daily basis. >> but now they're proposing to allow inmates convicted assault and be violent crimes into the program. >> maybe we can include them because of their good behavior over the last ten years or so in prison. >> a shrinking prison population contributes to less firefighters. >> we have had a record year this year, and it only eclipses the number of wildfires last year. and if that's the trend for the future, we want to make sure that we have enough inmates to fight the fires. >> officials say that arsonists, kidnappers, and those serving life sentences for murder would still be excluded from the program, but still they are worried. >> my concern is with one person managing such a large group of inmates without additional help. >> reporter: some california residents are

john henry smith reports. >> an employee for the daily fantasy sports website draft kings has admitted to inadvertently releasing data before week three games. that employee won $350,000 as fan duel that same week. they said there is no evidence that the employee, who has not been fired, used that information to win that prize money. both draft kings and fan duel released the joint statement stating, quote: >> the incident has raised concerns about the fairness of the loosely regulated fantasy sports industry. gamers say chances of actual players or other pro sports personnel profiting were insider information is slim. they spoke to al jazeera's ray suarez. >> throwing games and things like that, that is reduced by fantasy sports where players are selected as opposed to team outcomes. >> new jersey congressman has called for an investigation into whether these fantasy sites are actually unregulated online gambling. >> how is it any different from sports betting. i don't see it. because you call it fantasy? >> now you can't go a day without seeing these ads. it has a lot of people looki

john henry smith, thank you. >> stock of alphabet expected to open up this morning. came up with a math joke to show us how well it is doing. profits last quarter were well above wall street expectations. they got a boost from advertising. here's the math. the exact dollar value of the $5.1 billion stock buy back equals the square root of 26. that is the number of letters in the alphabet multiplied by 1 billion. >> you need a calculator. >> you've got to carry the one. that's it for us here in new york. >> coming up next from doha, much more on the protest happening in south africa. students are very upset over rising tuition costs. they have had violent clashes with police. >> they say the tuition cost going up 12%. have a great day. >> great weekend. >> from al jazeera headquarters in doha, this is the news hour. coming up in the next 60 minutes: >> police in south africa fire stun grenades and tear gas at thousands of students protesting university fee rises. >> israel lifts restrictions on access to the al aqsa mosque compound in jerusalem. >> hunkering down, peo

john henry smith is here with more on the controversy. >> here is the issue in a nutshell. in daily fantasy sports, you use an imaginary pool of dollars to buy real life players for your lineup. people doing well are good at recognizing undervalued players. in this case, critics think this employee knew which players were undervalued based on his company's internal data. >> an employee for the daily fantasy sports website draft kings admitted to inadvertently releasing player data before the start of the nfl's week three slate of games. that employee won $350,000 at a rifle site, fan dual that same week. a draft kings spokesman said there is no evidence that the employee, who has not been fired, used that information to win that prize money. both draft kings and fan dual released the following joint statement: >> the incident has raised concerns about the fairness of the loosely regulated fantasy sports industry. gamers say the chance of actual players or other pro sports personnel profiting from insider information is slim. >> their main concern is probably the concern of

. >> new york city is dealing with an outbreak of legion airs disease john henry smith is here with the latest. one person is dead and more than a dozen others hospitalized in this latest outbreak this outbreak appears to be under control still residents in the brock are worried with this outbreak coming so soon after the last one health officials say new york city's latest legion airs outbreak is clusterred in the same burrough as the one that killed 12 people in july but this time, it's in a different neighborhood where new york's mayor traveled wednesday to try to ensure the community that the worst is over. >> none of those cases are new since september 21st. whatever happened was very limited in time. obviously it affected 13 people, but does not appear to be be continuing. >> there has been one death in this latest outbreak and another dozen people went to the hospital. health officials say all of the legion airs patients have underlying problems. >> it can be deadly in certain patient groups. elderly, smokers fears say bacteria was in building cooler towers including one at a hos

john henry smith has more. for union leadership, the question of how to strike might be as important as whether to strike. >> absolutely. if the two sides cannot hammer out a deal before tonight's deadline, the u.a.w. could instruct the vast majority of the 40,000 person workforce to strike or tell workers that only a few carefully chosen sites to walk off. either action could put fiat chrysler in a serious bind. >> i've got 30 years. i'd do it. done it before. >> workers are ready to walk off the job. the u.a.w. sent this letter to fiat chrysler management setting an 11:59 deadline for a new labor deal. weeks ago, the two reached what they thought was a lon term agreement, but the auto workers rejected that proposed four year deal by a 2-1 margin. the biggest thing dividing fiat chrysler and unionized employees is the issue of tear two wages, the pay for people hired after 2007. they often earn as much as $11 an hour less than more veteran employees. union workers are also concerned about fiat chrysler's plans

john henry smith has more. >> fire department officials in and around st.ouis have no doubt the fires that burned six churches there are the work of an arsonist. >> these don't start by themselves. it is suspicious in nature. >> the new north side missionary baptist church is one set ablaze since october 8. all of within three miles of each other. each has seen an entrance set on fire. >> what i would like to see happening is number one that it would stop and that whom of it is would be caught so that they can face justice. >> five of the churches predominantly black, the other is racially mixed, and the leader of the new north side church says it does not seem like locals are taking it seriously. >> gotten phone calls from kentucky, from michigan, media, national media, you know, but yet, in st. louis, it's just been a very apathetic. >> while investigators or the a. st. f. have no suspects, they also say it's likely one person is responsible for the rash of fires. there's a $2,000 reward for any information leading to an arrest. >> it's an appalling to ev

john henry smith has the story. >> she grabs your heart the first time you met her. she entrance your heart. she's going to be missed by a lot of people. >> reporter: as her family remembers the smiling face of lily garcia police in ambush curbingy say this is the face of the man that killed her. 32-year-old tony torres in custody after a road rage incident led to gunfire. >> everyone involved is breathing a little better with a sigh of relief because this is appearing to wrap up the way we were hoping it would. authorities say alan garcia was driving his daughter and 7-year-old son home from school when he said torres cut him off. they got into a shouting match and police say torres confessed to pulling out a gun, firing into a car, one bullet striking lily in the head. >> looked like an adult with an unresponsive child. >> this should never have happened. it's a disrespect of human life. it was an anonymous tip. as he drove the green lexus. they were looking for the red car. all this as the garcia family mourns. >> i wouldn't want anyone in my shoes. >> there has b

. >> john henry smith joins us. this seems to reverse a lower court ruling. >> you are correct. a federal judge had thrown out the case almost two years ago. he said at the time the nypd had not broken the law. this appeals court disagreed with dramatic language. it was created after the september 11 attacks. the nypd called it the demographics unit and in 2003 to 2014, it kept secret tabs on the activities of new york's muslim americans without any evidence of criminal activity. >> mosques, sanctuaries, what is the lead that sends them into organizations for 10 years at a time. >> angry muslims filed a series of lawsuits against the department but they were thrown out. now a federal appeals court has reinstated the case, speaking for the three judge panel, the judge wrote: >> 20 months ago, federal judge william martini dismissed the case, ruling that the surveillance program was designed to stop attacks, not a target muslims. then police chief ray kelly offered this defense of the program at the time. >> we intend to continue to do the things that we believe we have to do to p