patty culhane, al jazeera, washington. >>> the first round of reunion for north and south koreans come to a close today. families separated by war for 65 years acknowledge nearly 400 south koreans were allowed to travel north. a final round will be held on saturday. harry fawcett sent this report from seoul. >> families were all too aware of the bittersweet shortness of the visit. this is day that reality sets in, final meetings and indeed final farewells. these farewells will be the last time they get osee husbands and wives, it is children, somewhat more distant familial relationships, uncles and cuz i cousins. death of one or another of the feamefamilies involved. those who have been able to be traced in north korea and on monday that will be it, the entire event will wrap up. the question of course is whether a more regularized process of such event can now take place. because there are tens of thousands of people in south korea who are on the list of applicants for family reunions. that depends on the political relationship between north and south. talking about their joyful natur

patty culhane reports. >> it's been the decision of president obama about the u.s. involvement in syria. >> it will not involve american combat troops fighting on foreign soil. >> reporter: now they say up to 50 special forces will go into syria but that does not violate that pledge they insist. >> to make it clear that our counteri.s.i.l. strategy will be substantially different, a difference in night and day, one that president obama was implementing to counter i.s.i.l. and a long counteroperation that the bush administration pursued in 2003. >> what exactly these u.s. special forces are going to be doing on the ground, they are trying to paint the picture they won't be on the offensive unless the forces they're with get into trouble. but behind the scenes, pentagon officials are ruling out that the u.s. troops will do any fighting at least for now, proof that the president doesn't have a strategy. >> an incremental change that will not change the conditions on the ground. in the eyes of the enemy this is weakness. in the eyes of our allies this is your honor reli

patty culhane has more. >> it's been a consistent position of president obama on the war in syria. >> i want to know how these wars will be different from the wars in iraq and afghanistan. it will not involve american fighting troops fighting on foreign soil. >> they insist it does not violate that pledge. >> the president did go to great lengths to make clear that our counter-i.s.i.l. strategy in iraq and in syria would be substantially different. a difference in night and day between the strategy that president obama was implementing to counter i.s.i.l. and the ground operation that bush administration pursued in 20132003. >> not go into detail of what these u.s. special forces are going to be doing on the ground but trying to paint the picture that they won't necessarily be on the offensive unless the forces they're with get into trouble. but they are rulings out the idea that the troops will do any fighting at least for now. critics say this latest move is proof that the president doesn't have a strategy. >> an incremental change that will not change the opinion on the ground. thi

. >> patty culhane, create incredible pictures. what more do we know about the events that led to this. >> well, i think one of the remarkable things is how little this female high school student fights back. just to set the scene for you as we play that video. according to school and police officials. the police officer was called into the classroom because several times the girl, we don't know her identity yet, she was asked to get up and leave the classroom. she refused. he seems to put her in a chokehold but he flings her across the floor and tells her to put your hands behind your back and arrests her. we do know that we have confirmed that the fi fbi will decide whether they are civil rights were violated. this comes in public protests as african-americans really being abused by the police in police custody. and so president abraham is scheduled to address this very issue. he's going to be speaking to a huge gathering of police chiefs in just a few hours' time. we'll be watching to see what he has to say about that. >> it rea

. >> well, let's get more from patty culhane who is in las vegas. how important is this debate for the candidates? >> well, i can tell you right now, lauren, 13 months until the first votes are cast for the president. probably not going to decide who, in fact, gets to be the democratic nominee for president, but it sure could get rid of some of the candidates. the three lower-tiered candidate they have to make an amazing first impression if they want to move beyond the 1% they're showing in the polls. for bernie sanders, he has to prove that he does not just appeal to the far left, the progressives, he needs to prove that he can actually win the general election, and for former secretary of state hillary clinton she has a couple of things she needs to do tonight. first, make no mistakes. that could definitely her her with bernie sanders so close in the polls. the second thing, try to make people not only like her but trust her. her poll raters are abysmal heading into a general election. it could doom some canale candidacy, but we're going to hear a

patty culhane, al jazeera, washington. >>> iraqi green zone has been opened. the green zone is home to government buildings and several foreign embassies. imtiaz tyab reports. >> would have been unthinkable just a few days ago to see traffic moving freely down this road. but since sunday parts of baghdad's heavily fortified green zone have been open to the public. the decision was announced by prime minister haider al-abadi, seen as attempts by part of his government to address growing public anger for insecurity and poor public services. the green zone or international zone as it's been officially known has been closed to citizens. but it was turned into the administrative hazardous for coalition forces. it's been surrounded by barbed wire and heavily manned checkpoints. it's the area for homes of high profile iraqis. >> there will be a lot more searches, trust me this will be shut down soon. >> reporter: the easing of some restrictions inside the green zone is surprising to many here. over the years it has been a frequent target for bombings and rockets. it

our white house correspondent patty culhane takes a look at what this means for presidential race. >> as you walked out to the rose garden vice president joe biden sounded very much like a candidate. >> we can do this. and when we do america won't just win the future, we will own the finish line. >> but biden decided he won't even make it to the starting line in the race for president. he sounds very much like a man who wants to run but he says he doesn't have time to launch a credible campaign. his decision long delayed because of the death of his son bo to bahrain cancer last may, when he was grieving, th --to b. that is a huge gain for secretary of state hillary clinton. >> i believe that hillary clinton will almost certainly be the democrats presidential nominee. i do not see any scenario under which senator bernie sanders could beat her in a head to head contest. >> clinton, considered more hawkish than her competitors, the exit of biden means she is not likely to change from her positions, israel and palestine on a two state solution. >> it's very difficult to figure out how eit

patty culhane, al jazeera, washington >>> some of the united states senior police officers and prosecuted called for major reform of the criminal justice system. they formed a group to work towards reducing the prison population. >> reporter: events in ferguson and baltimore, the deaths of shooting of black men there and other states around the country bought police into sharp focus. a country with 5% of the world's population is 25% of the prison population. senior police officers and local sheriffs. things have got to change. >> we are launching the group with the twin goals of protecting public safety, we know we can do it and protect public safety. >> reporter: crime in the u.s. is at low levels. murder rates have grown in chicago. police departments, powers to arrest on minor crimes, zero tolerance often bring long gaol sentences. that heads the community harder. finding the children barn that year, one in three spend time in prison. compared to one in 17 white men. this group want arrests, downgrading some crimes and building up community policing u. >> the criminal justice system i

patty culhane has more. >> reporter: charles folder is a man who really likes to talk about his brotherodd. >> comedian, just he commands the room. always has. >> reporter: his pictures show an inseparable pair. always smiling. but this is where the pictures stop. at 24 years old, todd foster was found guilty of a non-violent crime. dealing crack cocaine. they possessed a combined 15 kilograms, that meant his sentence, life in prison, no chance of parole. >> you sell drugs, you do your time, but life without parole for something you can put in your pocket? na, i never -- i would never see that in a million years. >> reporter: the judge had very little discretion because federal law requires mandatory minimum sentences. it's a formula, and it adds up to the sentence. the independent commission that oversees sentences just changed the formula. shaving an average of two careers of prison time for drug offenses. but for people sentenced to life, it means they will know freedom. part of the reason, money. the u.s. spends $80 billion a year on prisons, they are overcrowded. almost half of the

and it by no means a done deal. >> patty culhane, thank you. we'll go to manila to talk about the flip side of it, in asia, which could benefit from this deal. >> well, exactly. as patty mentioned, a lot of secrecy has surrounded the negotiations. many people are nervous about what this deal will mean. the government trade ministers have been saying all the right things, giving the right appearances but few people trust it right now. and half the countries that are going to be significant any tores this deal are facing elections next year. >> thank you for that, live in manila in the philippines. >>> okay, we'll move on to other news. the u.s. military has been speaking about a strike on a hospital in kunduza strike that killed 22 people. many of them from the medical charity doctors without borders. it is looking for an investigation, an independent one. in the past they had said that afghans had asked for air support. >> we learned that forces advised that they were taking fire from enemy forces and asked for help from american forces. in thi

. >> patty culhane is live at the white house, this is pretty embarrassing. >> reporter: well, not if listen to the president. he said he wasn't disappointed by this announcement, obviously trying to spin this in the most positive light. remember he won two elections, and his biggest foreign policy promise was that he would end the wars in iraq and afghanistan. u.s. war planes are still in the skies over iraq, and now he has made this announce about afghanistan. he did say they expected setbacks, but i think it's important to point out, each time the president made announcements what the troop numbers would be, he didn't say maybe, he was extremely definitive. in this speech he did say the u.s. troops wouldn't be doing major combat. it's important to pay attention to the words. we do know u.s. troops did help take back the city of kunduz. so the president trying to put this in the most positive light, but there is no question about it, when he came into the office he said there will be no troops when he left, and there now will be >> i'm imagine there would be political opponents who

. >> live now to patty culhane in our washington bureau. u.s. secretary of state john kerry is set to meet with the israeli prime minister. what can they achieve at this stage? >> president barack obama is not sounding all that optimistic that in his time in office he'll be able to find a two-state solution. we've been told that he plans to meet with palestinian leadership not that secretary kerry has enough influence to change the situation on the ground. he has spent a lot of effort coming to a two-state solution, but it does not seem that he has a lot of ways to pressure the israelis, and when it comes to the palestinians, it's not that they view the united states as an honest broker. in fact, they say they're not an honest broker. secretary of kerry was at harvard and said that the settlement has led to the tension that we see on the ground. now he's walking that back and saying that the settlements are an excuse for the attacks that are happening. very sensitive topic here in washington. >> this is the big question. what is the current u.s.

. >> let's go straight now to al jazeera's white house correspondent patty culhane. she's in washington for us. he was running out of time, as he admits he is bereaved. he lost a someone quite recently, but he would have had a chance, wouldn't he? >> you know, he's actually very popular, and he wasn't alone in this. there was an entire interest pac, an outside group who can spen spends whatever money they want to. there was a very powerful ad "run joe,," but he decided he's not going to. he clearly sounded like a candidate. he's passionate about certain issues. when you heard him say that he was not going to be silent, it's a bit of a threat to the democrats who are left running for office. if they go after the obama administration including him, then he is going to be very vocal about it. obviously sounding like somebody who wanted to be a candidate saying simply there wasn't enough time. as you mentioned his son bo died of cancer in may. he decided he could not run for president while he was still grieving. he said that they could run a challenge but they had run o

patty culhane, al jazeera, washington. >>> the u.n.'es agency says that more than 5,000 refugees were arriving in serbia from macedonia every day. and that there is no sign that flow of people will ease. the u.n. says that 13,000 have entered serbia in the last 48 hours alone. and it's predicting another surge in the coming days. more than 170,000 people have passed through serbia on their way towards europe this summer. and refugees are continuing to arrive in italy, more than 700 people mainly from syria and eritrea were rescued off the coast of libya on monday the aid group doctors without borders pick he had them up in two separate operations, they have been taken to the italian island of sicily. germany's chancellor angela merkel says her country can't handle the refugees crisis alone. she is heading to brussels for a european union sum out thursday. where she will appeal for help from other states. merkel is under pressure her coalition partner to his limit the number of asylum seekers entering germany. jonah hull reports now from

patty culhane reports. >> reporter: you just wouldn't look at bernie sanders and think political rockdoesn't come across as overly groomed. he is far from young and hip. but he is drawing the biggest, most enthusiastic crowds on the democratic side of the race. >> they are sick and tired of establishment politics! >> reporter: his politics, often describes as socialist, he is blunt, and unlike every past presidential candidate, he refuses to run negative campaign ads, and it seems to be working. ing on the campus of gorge continue to university, his support is pretty easy to spot. these supporters say they don't just like him. they love his policies, promising to raise the minimum wage, abolish mass incarceration, and tax reform. he is promising to make college free for everyone, by taxing wall street. this organizer says stupths were excited for president barack obama, but like this. >> the takeup was really fast and merged organically and it has been really tense as well. >> reporter: and sanders is coming close to clinton on fund-raising. she raised $28 million last quarter. he rai

patty culhane, al jazeera, washington. >>> zimbabwe won't bring charges against an american dentist whoonal anger after killing a lion in the country. walter palmer killed cecil the lion in july, fueling debate about trophy hunting, a court in zimbabwe said that he had legal authority to hunt. the animal was lured away from a national park. >>> police in chile have fought with indigenous people demanding the return of their ancestral land of a march by the indians in santiago turned violent. riot police fired tear gas and water cannon to disburse the crowds. they had been marking the anniversary of christopher columbus' arrival and the spanish colonizer's conquest of their land. >>> now, tired of children stories where the main characters are damsels in distress, a publishing house in argentina has launch what had it considers a revolutionary proposal. a collection of anti-princesses books, the publication features real women who played an important role in latin american culture. teresa bo reports. >> reporter: nadia has come to the slum to show children something new. tired of classic

patty culhane, al jazeera washington. >>> we have more from manila on what the deal means for economies in the asia-pacific region. >> the four countries involved in the tpp energieses, brunei, sing lower, malaysia and singapore are sat centric economies. being part of the tpp once ratified will bring significant financial and social reform to these countries. the communist party of vietnam that rules at the moment actually controls much of its export industry. they're going to have to look into privatizing more and more of that as part of the tpp. aside from that, other asian nations already seeing this as a good thing in expressing interest in joining an expanded version, the philippines and korea among them. all in all, it is being seen in in region as a way by which the united states is slightly forcing the hand of china to join up. basically it has to match the standards of this common trade area if it wants to play ball with the rest of the asia-pacific. >>> there have been three car bombings in iraq killing at least 57 people. one was on the northern outskirts on baghdad and anot

patty culhane has the highlights from las vegas. >> reporter: the backdrop.er op you lens of the wynn hotel in las vegas. here in this steering the playground for the rich and famous, the democratic hopefuls for president pledged they would tax the people who party here in order to help those who work here. front runner hillary clinton is trying to put a growing scandal behind her, she use aid private e-mail server during her time as secretary of state. reinforcing the idea that she is untrust worthy with the majority of voters. she called the entire investigation political and got some unlikely support. >> the american people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn e-mails. >> thank you. me too. me too. >> reporter: the sharpest disagreements between the three candidates likely to stay in the race after this debate came on the issue of a no-fly zone in syria. >> what i believe and why i have advocated that the no-fly zone, which, of course, would be in a coalition, be put on the table is because i am trying to figure out what leverage we have to get ru

patty culhane, al jazeera, washington. >>> cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide theber of cases in latin american countries is almost twice that of more developed nations. a new report shows while cancer care still needs urgent attention it is starting to improve. the oncology commission says the portion of people covered by some health insurance has gone up from 46% to 60% in the last two years. latin american countries, particularly brazil and argentina are starting to address the shortage of cancer specialists. and a number of countries in latin america have devised national cancer plans including ecuador, peru, el salvador and part rico. colombia has also expanded its social insurance program to cover all types of cancer as alessandro reports. >> reporter: she has stomach cancer and has been doing kimmo for 15 months, she has subi subsidized insurance that covers her treatment but leaves her for weeks waiting for the medicine to be authorized. >> translator: because of the delay he gets an infection in her lungs, i don't understand why this happens if this medici

patty culhane reports from washington, d.c. >> are you coming with me?: it's happened again. another video goes viral. this time in south carolina. a teenager refuses to leave her high school classroom and this is how the police officer responded. he's been suspended, the justice department is investigating whether her civil rights were violated. another case of police force causing outrage in ferguson, missouri and baltimore maryland police-involved deaths sparked riots and created a movement. black lives matter. hoping to highlight the growing divide between police and communities of color. >> may god protect our cops 67 now press barack obama is trying to get the sides talking. >> there are a lot of african americans, not just me, who have that same kind of story of being pulled over or frisked or something and the data shows that this is not an aberration. >> reporter: in general, crime rates in the u.s. are falling but several cities are seeing screw rocketing murder rates and the fbi director says the protests and backlash are part of the reason. >

patty culhane, al jazeera, wash? what's coming up in the program. >> reporter: shaping kenya's economy. how it will. pack it's informal sector. plus the e.u. offers turkey more than $3 billion to help deal with the flow of refugees in to europe. i just had a horrible nightmare. my company's entire network went down, and i was home in bed, unaware. but that would never happen. comcast business monitors my company's network 24 hours a day and calls and e-mails me if something, like this scary storm, takes it offline. so i can rest easy. what. you don't have a desk bed? don't be left in the dark. get proactive alerts 24/7. comcast business. built for business. ♪ ♪ >>> the top stories on al jazeera the muslim friday prayer will begin at al-aqsa mosque compound in the next hour, restrictions do remain on the men under the aim of 40 from taking part. later the security council will be holding an emergency meeting on the violence. >>> syrian troops backed by russian jets have attacked the area south of aleppo the area they

patty culhane, al jazeera, washington. >> as u.s. troops prepare to head to syria secretary of state john kerry was looking for ways to end the long and bloody conflict. kerry and diplomats from 18 other countries wrapped up two days of meetings at vienna austria. mohammed jamjoom has the story from vienna. >> reporter: they were very long and arduous days but finally some common ground was forged on syria. u.s. secretary of state john kerry was happy to reach the points of mutual understanding reached in vienna. >> syria's unity, independence territorial existence are fundamental. we agreed that syria's state institutions will remain intact. we agreed that the rights of all syrians regardless of ethnicity or religious denomination must be protected. >> diplomats had hoped that the presence of iran might finally lead to a break through and while the sense of guarded optimism may have bolstered diplomacy it did nothing on the battlefield. on friday, dozens were killed in a crowded marketplace in duma and in aleppo province, 21 locatio

. >> white house worse respondent patty culhane joins me now. what was the main reason deciding not to run. >> well, you have to keep in mind joe biden really wasn't thinking about running. he really had not done the leg work, but then former secretary of state hillary clinton started to stumble. she was polling badly and had a few scandals mainly the fact that she was using a private e-mail server, which is now being investigated by the fbi. then joe biden started thinking about running. then his son bo biden died of cancer in may. he now says that when they mention bo they can smile instead of cry. but now that he's ready to run he is simply out of time. you consider the fact that the presidential election is not more than a year, but basically this is a long campaign in the united states. the candidates have been running for months. they've been raising hundreds of millions of dollars combined. the first iowa caucus is four and a half months away. the vice president clearly passionate, clearly sounds he like he wanted to complain, but sounds

. >> let's go to washington, d.c, not very far from where we saw josh earnest, patty culhane and we're off to the chilean capital santiago, in just a moment. i'm going to bounce this around between the two of you. patty where you live what difference is it going to make to you? >> reporter: well, it's going to make a huge difference when it comes to exactly how much goods cost. this is an argument, we won't know how much, until we see the text. we won't see it for several weeks. it has to be drafted and changed into several different languages. there are two different arguments. if you heard the president's argument you just heard josh's brief of the press, hence more jobs, there are economists and opponents on the other side, environmental groups big labor says this is going to have a horrible impact. they say it only benefits the corporations. past free trade agreements only cost america jobs and lower wages. so really, it's a stark difference between the two sides are saying. until we read the text david i don't know if i can tell you, how it's going to affect my life. >> send us a

. >> let'let's go to patty culhane in las vegas. only a few hours left, what is the mood like there? >> well, i can tell through is a lot of excitement. it might sound somewhat insane. but think about this, the vote for president is not for 13 months. but with this debate the campaign for the democratic nomination officially gets under way. one of the more opposite pew lent opulent casinos holding the debate. this is the spin room where every candidate will have their people out here claiming that their candidate won the debate. we'll be here for all of that in the run up to that i wanted to get more on bernie sanders and i spoke with ramÓn sanders no, relation, there was a poll, 50% of americans said. >> call it what you want, we've seen folks all across the country stand up and say i'm here for the little guy. you know, the senator advocating for working class americans every day americans. he's out there talking about free public colleges and making them tuition free. he's out there advocating for racial justice services and talk

patty culhane, al jazeera, washington. >>> much more still to come here on the news hour.te change back on the agenda, but just agreeing on a framework plan is proving to be a problem. >> i'm reporting from the ivory coast, where economic growth appears to have assured the president of a second term. >>> some of the most an cient sports are set to go on display in the world's first indigenous games. ♪ >>> welcome back. let's recap our headlines now. south africa's president says there will be no increase in university fees in 2016. thousands of university students have been protesting the planned hike. they tried to storm government buildings in pretoria. >>> the war in syria has been the center of talks between the u.s. secretary of state and russia's foreign minister. they met in the austrian capital, along with the sadie and turkish foreign ministers. >>> around 30,000 people have prayed at the al-aqsa mosque after age restrictions were lifted. israel has blocked some men from entering the compound since september. >>> returning to our top story the student protests in

patty culhane will be here to talk us through a little bit of this. the fact that it was negotiated in secret put people off the long process. >> that's what opponents have been saying. they say big companies have been allowed to help with negotiations, but the general public does not know anything about it, including congress. the recently selected items they want to see highlighted. they're saying 18,000 tariffs will be removed from american products and they're highligh highlighting new protections for workers. they'll ban child labor, but as you mentioned we don't know the details. we won't see the wording for as long as a month. this is going to be incredibly control of in the united states. the american public remembers nafta, the agreement between u.s. and canada and mexico and saw jobs leave for mexico. they were able to get fast track authority where members of congress can vote yes or no, they can't change the agreement. but we've seen allies, environmentalists and other groups come out and say they hate the deal and they'll work with congre

let's go to patty culhane in washington, d.c. is it going to sail through there? >> not a chance. opponents have been against it from the start, saying that the american people and members of congress had no idea what the president's team was negotiating. now president obam president barack obama said it's going to get rid of tariffs on american products. which is that, we won't know, we might not be able to read the agreement for another month. but the president is trying to sell the deal to the american people who were very much put off by the deal between canada and mexico and the united states nafta. they'll some out and said that this is a horrible deal. this is going to be tough to get this through, but he's following a good fight because his team has put a lot of emphasis on getting this deal done. >> we've got the other ones like nafta, why did it come to pass? why is do people think that this one was needed? think saw manufacturing jobs leave b, and tens of thousands of jobs were lost. what the obama administration said that this does is when it comes to labor laws, it ev

more from al jazeera's patty culhane. >> reporter: there's little question with this storm. in hours these seas will rage, these buildings will be battered. it would not be possible for tourists to stroll along the beach. hurricane patricia is on its way. >> translator: it's very probable that this hurricane will effectively be the most intense hurricane that has existed in this part of the pacific in our country since records began in 1949. >> reporter: this is a historic storm in many ways. the strongest ever recorded in the pacific. the fastest ever to develop. residents have been given some time to prepare. >> translator: i'm doing well here with my mother. they had told us it was going to be category 4, and after monitoring, it's been raised to category 5. they told us that there will be protections, special sites where people can stay. >> translator: we really didn't buy that much because they regularly say that a hurricane will come, but sometimes they don't hit. that's why i think the majority don't participate that much. >> reporter: experts say this is not a storm

patty culhane reports now from washington, d.c. >> he's always having fun. >> reporter: the really likes to talk about his brother, todd. >> comedian. he demands the room. always has. >> his pictures show an inseparable pair always smiling growing up in the poverty-stricken side of washington, d.c. this is where the pictures stop. at 24-year-old todd foster in his first run-in with the law was found guilty of a nonviolent crime, dealing crack cocaine. along with seven others they had 15 kilograms, and that meant his sentence was life in prison. no chance of parole. >> you sell drugs, you know, you do your time or whatever. life without parole for something you can put in your pocket? i never -- i would never see that in a million years. >> the judge had very little discretion because federal law requires mandatory prison sentences. its a formula that looks at the type of drug, the quantity, the circumstances and that adds up to the sentence. the independent commission that oversees sentences just changed the formula, reducing the time future and past prisoners will have to serve. shaving

patty culhane reports. >> reporter: it happened again, another video goes viral. this time in south carolina. the teenager refusing to leave her high school classroom. this is how the police kept responded. the justice department is investigating whether her civil rights were violated. another case of police force causing outrage. police involved deaths parked riots, creating a movement. hoping to highlight growing quits between police and others of colour. president obama is trying to get the sites talking. >> there's a lot of african-americans, not just me who have that story of being pulled over or frisked or something, and the data shows that this is not an aberration. >> in general. crime rates in the u.s. are falling. cities are seeing sky rocketing murder rates. the protest and the backlash are part of it. >> privately in one big city precinct who describe being surrounded by young people, mobile phones high, taunting them getting out of their cars. they said to me thee feel under siege. >> in baltimore the statistics are telling, there's 177 murders in 201

there are plenty of critics as patty culhane was reporting. unions don't like aspects of this. here in canada, the auto business is impacted by this somehow, possibly thousands of jobs going. also, the farming sector. while many canadian farmers will benefit from access to asian markets, in kurn canada's terry industry heavily, heavily protected is going to to willsen in and let in more milk and other products from the united states, new zealand and so on. lots to talk about here and lots more details to come out. right now we're really digesting the news and getting the information like everyone else in the region. >> you mentioned there's an upcoming election in canada. how much of an issue is it likely to be and what will be the key subjects? >> reporter: this is an election very close between the three main parties, and finally we have an issue that divides at least two of them. the prime minister as i mentioned is a huge supporter of this. his government negotiated canada's side, while the main left of center opposition which represents a lot of farmers and unionized worke

but in the end it went to the candidate no one thought could win, patty culhane al jazeera. >>> one of biggest festivals has been delayed due to the even stating earthquakes that hit the country earlier this year, we will tell you more and. >>> serious football team is ban from hosting matches at home because of war and now the coach says his side the fighting the world for a spot in the world's biggest tournament. ♪ i just had a horrible nightmare. my company's entire network went down, and i was home in bed, unaware. but that would never happen. comcast business monitors my company's network 24 hours a day and calls and e-mails me if something, like this scary storm, takes it offline. so i can rest easy. what. you don't have a desk bed? don't be left in the dark. get proactive alerts 24/7. comcast business. built for business. ♪ hello again with the news hour on al jazeera and adrian in doha and our top stories two israelis have been killed after two palestinian men boarded a bus in jerusalem and opened fire on passengers, one of the attackers was shot dead by israeli forces at the s

patty culhane reports. >> reporter: with the world press watching the leaders of the u.s. and pakistan promised their relationship will get better. >> we are looking forward to using this assist an opportunity to continue the relationship >>> the government wasn't told when osama bin laden was found by pakistan, and they've been accused of supporting the taliban in afghanistan. members of congress pushed the president to use his leverage to push the prime minister to do more. >> he has leverage, he has to use it not publicly but privately. that is the key >> i read the book that detailed america has provided: that figure is diminishing every year. the white house was floating the idea of the sale of eight f-16 fighter jets, in part because they want pakistan to agree to limit their nuclear weapons programme. when a story leaked that they were talking about it analysts say the negotiations fell apart. >> it was about three weeks ago. there would have been an understanding, a mention that both sides agreed to move forward. there'll be discussion about this, pressure on pam s

hillary clinton was the standout performer, as patty culhane reports. >> the back drop. the opulence of the hotel in las vegas. here in this city the playground for the rich and famous, democratic hopefuls pledged they'd tax the people that partied here in order to help those that worked here. >> front runner clinton put a scandal behind her. she reenforced the idea that she is un-truss worthy. thee called the situation political and got support. >> the american people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails. >> thank you. >> the disagreements between the three candidates likely to stay in the race came under the issue of a nofully zone, of course it would be in a coalition. be put on the table. i'm trying to figure out what we can do to get lusha to the table. >> it's a dangerous situation. it could lead to real problems. and you have to enforce no fly zones, and with the russian air force in the air, it could lead to an investigation because of an accident that we deeply regret. few details emerge in the demate. most were tucking about how they were diffic

some don't patty culhan patricia sabga has more. >> indeed, economists are divided over how many jobs nafta took from america, but one thing that nobody is divided over is how many jobs have been lost to china because of the cost of labor was so much cheaper. in its summary of the trans-pacific partnership the u.s. trade representative is seeking to apply som ally some of the fears. they do say that practices the fundamental labor rights such as association and right to collective bargaining will be honored. in vince such as vietnam they'll have to allow their workers to form unions. you have to keep in mind that the cost of labor in many of the countries in this agreement is far cheaper than the u.s. and it's inevitable that labor intensive jobs will gravitate to those areas especially now in this era that we have right now of currencies being so cheap against the dollar. we've had a wave of emerging market duvall ways on the heels of china's duvall ways, so that makes the cost of labor even lower. >> now let's talk about the environment. is this good or bad for the environment. >> t

. >> white house correspondent patty culhane has more from los angeles. >> the very first debate be among the potential candidates in the books. here they are trying to basically spin reporters saying their candidate won the debate. a big area where the candidates diverge is on syria. we saw the former secretary of state clinton tie herself to some of the foreign policy successors of foreign policy. she says there needs to be a no-fly zone instituted within the country, so they'd not have to flee to other countries. the other two contenders, former governor of maryland, martin o'mallee saying that it would be dangerous. calling it a quagmire in a quagmire. a few issues where they disagreed. but it probably doesn't change the front runner status, but it seems that two of the lower team candidates will have to drop out. >> still to come on the bulletin. the deadly bombings in ankara widen deep political divisions in turkey. and we are in the chinese city that makes many of the world's christmas degreor aches, and the outlook for business is less than festive. >>> good to have you with us. i

patty culhane reports from washington. >> reporter: it was the central foreign policy issue that helped president obama stand out from a group of candidates. he was opposed to the iraq war and vowed if he was elected president he'd ended war in afghanistan and iraq. >> we'll end the war in iraq and bring troops home. we'll finish the job against al qaeda in afghanistan. during his re-election campaign in 2012... >> we are bringing our troops home from afghanistan, and i set a timetable. we'll have them out by 2014. >> and then this in 2014. >> by the end of 2016 our military will draw down it a normal embassy presence in kabul, with a security assistance component, just as we have done in iraq. >> now he says that is not going to happen after all, but the president is trying to downplay the significance much you. >> this decision is not disappointing continually, my goal has been to make sure that we give every opportunity for afghanistan to proceed while meeting core emissions. >> the white house says keeping the status quo is prove that the strategy is working. many analysts don't bel

patty culhane takes a look at what it means for the presidential race. >> as he walked out to the rose garden, vice president joe biden very much sounded like a candidate. >> we can do this. and when we do america won't just win the future, we will own the finish line. >> but biden decided he won't even make it to the starting line in the race for president. he sounded very much like a man who wants to run, but he said he doesn't have time to launch a credible campaign. his decision long delayed because of the death of his son bo to brain cancer last may. while he was grieving the other candidates were raising money, hiring staff, hitting the trail. he decided he didn't have enough time to catch up. analysts say that is a huge gain for former secretary of state hillary clinton. >> i believe hillary clinton will almost certainly be the democrat presidential nominee. i do not see any scenario under which senator bernie sanders could beat her in a head-to-head contest. >> clinton considered more hawkish than they are expecters. the exit of biden means that she's less likely to move from h

patty culhane has more. >> after countless meetings across the globe, trade ministers emerged after several delays. >> we have successfully concluded the transpacific partnership. >> reporter: a deal if implemented impacts a huge population - 12 nations tied together in a freed trade deal. importing much of what is sold, cars, computers, medicines and meat. how industry is impacted is not known. the text will not be released for weeks. critics or t.p.p. - and there are plenty of those - say this is a horrible deal for average people. >> no matter what happens, this will put downward pressure on the wages of working americans. it's likely to result in a significant job loss as well. that is a secondary concern. the primary effect is on wagements. >> the president obama -- woiges. >> the primary affect may have some impacts. >> this enhances opportunity for american businesses and workers, just to give you examples. american countries taxed up to 40%. american soy beans. these are tariffs that will be slashed, if not eliminated. >> now it goes to the respected parliament, the congress can say

patty culhane reports from washington d.c. >> reporter: the massive scale of the crisis, the faces of desperation, and then this. the culmination of so much misery spurring people to act. >> we have some nail files, nail clippers. >> reporter: kit normally serves coffee and asks customers to donate hygiene kits to send to syria. >> number one is to help people feel physically normal. establishes the dignity first, and giving them the essentials is the least we can do and something that everybody can get excited about. >> the president obama administration is trying to tap into that and went to the crowd funding site kickstarter, asking them to start a fund for the u.n. refugee agency. with five days left to donate, more than a million has been raised. >> we have been reading headlines and watching stories like everyone else and feel a sense of initial helpless nls. of what do you -- helplessness, of what do you do. to is have clear invitation to help felt right. >> reporter: kickstarter is not charge, mastercard, visa and american express refuse to wave the fees, so they'll profit fro

patty culhane, al jazeera, washington. >> a directorate public citizens an ng on. to the deal. he said the agreement will benefit big business at the expense of the ordinary person. >> it's true for the past five years or more this negotiations has been taking place in secret behind closed doors. with 600 corporate advice who's have been cleared, who have been able to influence the text, access the text while the public has been locked out. even elected officials have had to fight to even see pieces of the text. u.s. trade representatives office has typically been a resolving door between industry, wall street, big hollywood, et cetera, they tends to see u.s. big business as their constituency. the fact that the white house been pushing it has been a big disappointment that's why you saw the vast majority of the president's own party opposing fast track trade authority this summer and that they have vowed to oppose the t. p.p. >>> still to come on the show, we'll find out how the malaysian prime minister is defending himself in a multi million dollars corruption sc

patty culhane, al jazeera, las vegas, nevada. >>> still to come here on the program. ♪ >> south africanuption campaigners are out on the streets of johannesburg. plus. >> reporter: i am adrian brown in southeast china. a manufacturing hub about they prepare for christmas all the year round. but orders are down and it's not just china's slowing economy that's to blame. ♪ ♪ tand that's what we're doings to chat xfinity.rself, we are challenging ourselves to improve every aspect of your experience. and this includes our commitment to being on time. every time. that's why if we're ever late for an appointment, we'll credit your account $20. it's our promise to you. we're doing everything we can to give you the best experience possible. because we should fit into your life. not the other way around. >> they don't fear anything. >> they're consuming economically important species >> we're offering something on our menu that no-one else is offering. ♪ ♪ >>> held going, the top stories here on al jazeera. israel's government has unveiled tougher security measures to tackle a wave of unrest. joe

patty culhane, al jazeera, washington. >>> hubert williams say former president of the police foundations what he said. >> the officer used a lot of unnecessary force from, my perspective. unless there was -- his life was they wanted, was there a gun, we saw no gun, we saw no weapon and we saw the officer continually dragging this woman across the floor. if she commit aid violation of the law, why wasn't she handcuffed, so it's problematic and this is the kind of thing that really casts the police in a bad light. and i think that part of the problem is that some people cannot -- that become police officers are not able to handle the job in an equitable and balanced manner because they have these racial skewed by as that his impacts the way they think and operate. there should be an increased focus on the tests that are given to determine the qualifications of somebody to handle the complex and difficult responsibilities of a police officer's job. and people that can't handle that job, they should they should not be in the police department. >>> within the last few years volkswagen has an

patty culhane reports. >> reporter: with the world's press watching the leaders of u.s. and pakistan promised their relationship will get better. >> we are looking forward to meeting this opportunity between the united states and pakistan. >> pakistan and america relationship over 70 years, it's my endeavour to strengthen in relationship >> the same pledge president obama made when he took office. there has been setbacks, like when the u.s. special forces found and killed osama bin laden in pakistan, and the government was not told. u.s. officials accused pakistan of supporting the taliban in afghanistan. >> i think the president has leverage, but he has to use it not publicly or privately. that's the key things that he has to do. he has to tell the prime minister for pakistan, who is here now, look, we have had enough of this stuff. a lot of the aid we give you, you are not getting any more. >> the obama administration is withholding $300 million in military aid. that is a fraction of what it gives pakistan, since 2002 the u.s. gave pakistan $31 million, just over seven

patty culhane, al jazeera, washington. >>> stay with us here on al jazeera.head. >>> i'm in tau ka where malnutrition continues to be one of the leading causes of death for children under the age of five. >>> and authors in argentina give girls real south american icons to look up to. >>> another day, another award for christiano renaldo. find out why this prize is so special. details coming up in sport. ♪ >> killing of journalists is a question that is directed to society. >> they are impartial. >> if you wanted to be a good journalist in iraq, you had to risk your life. >> they observe and report. >> kidnapping is a very real problem. >> journalists on the front lines. >> sometimes that means risking death. >> getting the story, no matter what it takes. >> that's what the fourth estate is all about. that's why i'm risking my life. ♪ >>> hello, again, you are watching al jazeera, a reminder of our top stories. benjamin netenyahu says he will use all means to end palestinian violence. three israelis have been killed by palestinians in two separate attacks in

jennifer glasse is in kabul, and patty culhane in is washington. let's first go to jennifer.s this going to work. >> reporter: we'll see the 9,800 forces that are here remain here through 2016, and then they'll make the decision on how and when to draw down to 5,500 for 2017. but the big difference is that the forces will remain in bases around afghanistan not only here but in ja jalalabad, in the east and south. so it's not only in terms of numbers, but the fact that forces will remain a presence around afghanistan through 2017. >> and obviously the take overof the taliban spooked them slightly, but what does this say about the overall security situation right now? >> reporter: an u.n. official told al jazeera that the taliban probably control more areas now since they were driven from power in 2001. the taliban has had a presence around kunduz city for quite a long time, in gozny, the governor said the taliban had been harassing his city. and they controlled the main highway between kabul and kandahar stranding thousands of people along that road. the taliban fighting resur

patty culhane reports from washington d.c. >> reporter: it happened again - never video goes viral. this time in south carolina. a teenager refuses to leave the high school classroom, this is how the police officer responded. he has been suspended. the justice department is investigating whether civil rights were violated. another case of police force causing outrage in ferguson, missouri. police involved deaths parked riots, creating a movement and black lives matter, highlighting a divide between police and communities of colour. president obama is trying to get the sides talking. >> translation: there's a lot of african-americans with the story, pulled over, frisked or something. the data shoes it's not an aberration. >> reporter: in general crime rates are falling but some cities are seeing sky rocketing murder rates. protests and backlash is part of the region. >> i spoke to officers privately in a city precinct, described being surrounded by young people with mobile phones held high taunting them. they said to me "we feel under siege, not like getting out of the cars." >> in b

patty culhane has more. >> reporter: charles ford is a man who really likes to talk about his brother> comedian, just -- he demands the room. just has that certain aura about him. >> reporter: his pictures show an inseparable pair always smiling. but this is where the pictures stop. at 24 years old, todd foster in his first run-in with the law was found guilty of dealing crack cocaine, along with 7 others they possessed a combined 15 kilograms. and that meant his sentence, life in prison, no chance of parole. >> life without parole for something you can put in your pocket? no. i would never see that in a million years. >> reporter: the judge had very little discretion, because federal law requires mandatory minimum sentences. the independent commission that oversees sentences just changed the formula, reducing the time, future and past prisoners will have to serve. shaving an average of two years of prison time for drug offenses, but for people sentenced to life it means they will know freedom. part of the reason, money. the u.s. spends $80 billion a year on prisons, and they are over