i'm randall pinkston. a texas man accused of killing a police officer for no apparent reason will be arraigned on capital murder charge today. the prosecutors told the judge that shannon miles shot the officers 15 times at a gas station friday night. robert ray is live in houston. the prosecutor gave details over the horrific shooting. >> yes, indeed, this was a probable cause statement read by the judge just about an hour or so ago here in houston text. shannon miles, 30 years old, came in shackles, looked around the room. in the front row were the family and relstive o relatives of the officer. he was shot. heahere are the details. 15 times in the back by a smith and wesson. the ballistics were traced back to shannon miles. now what we know is that the motive is unclear at this point, randall, but the gruesome murder happened just three days ago. >> you can see the male get out of the car. white t-shirt, shorts, dennis chutes. he runs up behind the deputy and puts the gun to the back of his head and shoo

randall pinkston joins us with details.re some calling this irresponsible. >> some people say it's not much better than placebos. it has been the subject of controversy for a long time. it is not the same as viagra, which stimulates flood flow and is used as needed. the company that makes it, says it acts of brain chemistry. it is basically a sudden unexplained loss of any desire to have sex. the company and itself supporters criticized the fda for being sexist because it rejected the drug twice. but some critics, including doctors question the fda's approval. studies show the drug can cause a sudden drop in blood pleasure. that can lead women to faint and can leave them groggy the next day. the big question is also about the long-term effects of taking the drug. it takes at least eight week knows that it's working. >> what about cost? >> the pharmaceutical company has not set the price point, but they say they want it to be comparable to viagra. >> randall pinkston thanks for laying out the issues there. this doctor was an

i'm randall pinkston.lorida's governor declared a state of emergency as erika heads towards the sunshine state. and the white house says president obama has been briefed on storm preparations. the tropical storm has plowed a path of death and destruction through the caribbean. [ screaming ] >> a church in dominica collapsed under the fury of the wind and rain. the island nation so far the hardest hit. erika dumped 15 inches of rain on dominica. landslides blocked roads, power and water supplies were knocked out. the storm is right now delivering another punch to puerto rico. as much as eight inches of rain are expected before erika moves over the dominican republic towards florida by monday morning. >>> george w. bush has been in new orleans today visiting a school hard hit by hurricane katrina ten years ago. >> the slogan that guided the school when we first visited is true today. we believe in success. and because of that success, that schools like this have achieved, you have given all americans reason

. >> i'm randall pinkston in for antonio mora. this is al jazeera america, we begin in ferguson, missouri, where a state of emergency is in effect at this hour. live pictures from the city showing the scene where several dozens marched through the streets, blocking traffic. otherwise, not much disruption. folks mark the one year anniversary of the police shooting death of michael brown. almost 60 people were arrested outside a federal court house in st. louis. the arrests after a night of shootings in ferguson, police shot a teen after he allegedly opened fire on plain clothed officers, and two others shot near the memorial in what police called random violence. andy is there. has the state of emergency worked to cool things down? >> it is quiet. we are, and protesters are gathering a couple of miles away. we'll watch that during the night. the state of emergency means the county police will be watching the protests. there were a lot of protests during the day. in fact, protesters ran across interstate 70, westbound, inside st. lo

i'm randall pinkston. thousands forced out of their homes as a series of wildfires have ravaged their state. in the bone dry landscape the flames are spreading quickly. the biggest the rocky fire than 90 square miles. >> day and night firefighters are racing against the clock trying to contain wildfires blazing in california, washington, and oregon. >> doomsday, a that's what it looked like. >> the flames were fueled by lightening winds and dry temperatures. >> those pretty much escalated and got pretty big. >> firefighting planes are making the rounds. including dc 10 tankers releasing fire retardant. evacuation orders where 12,000 people have been issued in communities. one resident is camping in an rv with his pets. >> just keeping an eye and seeing when we can get back in. >> as they keep up the battle, crews are mourning the loss of one of their own. 38-year-old david ruell lost his life. >> they said that the drought has played a major factor in these fires. >> these fires are burning actively based

i'm randall pinkston.e are learning more about a man believed to be behind the shooting deaths of two virginia journalists live on television this morning. police have identified the fan as fester flanagan. he is believed to be a former employee of the station, working under the name bryce williams. he is believed to have shot two former colleagues as they were reporting live on air this morning. reporter allison parker, 24 years old, and cameraman adam ward 27, interviewing a guest when the report was interrupted by gunfire. news room across the country have been shaken by this. what is the latest? >> reporter: it's lurid, it's graphic. it's horrific. it's about five miles southwest of virginia year. rowen oak virginia one of the steps along the way that many journalists have stopped at. allison parker was on the air at 6:45 this morning, interviewing the chairwoman of the chamber of commerce there, victory gardner. and 27 year old adam ward another employee of wdbj, the videographer vil -- filming an int

i'm randall pinkston.ormer president jimmy carter is getting radiation treatment this afternoon for cancer that has spread. the 90 year old spoke candidly about his illness earlier today at the carter center in atlanta. after surgery to remove cancer from his liver tests found four small spots of melanoma on his brain. >> i just thought i had a few weeks left, but i was surprisingly at ease. you know, i have a wonderful life. i have had thousands of friends. and -- and i have had an exciting and adventurous and satisfying existence, so i was surprisingly at ease. much more so than my wife was. [ laughter ] >> but now i feel this is in the hands of god whom i worship, and i will be prepared for anything that comes. >> reporter: president carter called his pain so far very slight. he also said it is still not clear exactly where the cancer began. the 39th president says radiation treatments will continue for the next couple of months. earlier i spoke to a physician and medical journalist about carter's diagn

i'm randall pinkston, thank you for watching. "america tonight" is next. [ ♪ music ] >>> good evening, i'm michael oku, this is a special edition of "america tonight". this evening we focus our lens on a 1300 acre scratch of south los angeles, it was referred to as a cattle ranch, then a major railroad junction. at one point nicknamed mud town for the many dirt roads that respect unpaved. after 1965, very few would call it anythin

i'm randall pinkston. the news continues next live from london.emember for the latest headlines go to aljazeera.com. dead in austria.s found >> in the beaches as wow can see, covers in life jackets and the remains of rubber boats. >> hello there, you are watching al jazeera live from london, also coming up, 12 people are arrested in china in connection with the chemical blast that killed more than 140 people. ten years on, after hurricane

thank you for joining me, randall pinkston.for the latest, you can go to our website www.aljazeera.com. >> as the demonstrations continue, tempers flare, a deal between north and south korea, expected soon. hello david foster, you're watching al jazeera. 7,000 refugees leaving macedonia and continuing their search for a new life in europe. >>> tumbling commodity prices and slow down, drop in chinese

i'm randall pinkston in for antonio mora. coming up in this half hour of international news, just four days ahead of the u.s. flag raising in havana a look at the preparations for the historic ceremony. but first a look at the stories making headlines across the u.s. in our american minute. 18-year-old tyrone harris is now charged with assault on police officers after allegedly opening fire on plain carlos detectives in ferguson, missouri. first anniversary of the death of michael brown. he is now listed in critical condition, an officer. the outbreak of legionnaire's disease now stands at 12. health officials suspect that five contaminated water cooling towers in south bronx is the source of the disease. can be treated with antibiotics. there. >> the largest supplier of sugary drinks, cola cola, americans should be paying more attention to exercise and less attention to their diet. back in february, coke also endorsed online pieces for american heart month, arguing that a mini can of coke could be a healthy treat. >>> it has

randall pinkston, al jazeera. >> we're just learning an eighth person has died from legion legionnaires disease. the disease has been linked to five water cooling towers. those towers have been did he contaminated. >>> new orleans is celebrating 10 years since hurricane katrina. a gleaning new hospital facility has opened and promises to provide care for everyone. jonathan martin reports. jonathan. >> good evening to you john. it is no secret after hurricane katrina, health care was sparse. that's why this new hospital located right here downtown just opened four days at this point that is being paid for by state federal and some private money for many is seen as a turning point. it's one of the largest and perhaps most vital additions to new orleans since hurricane katrina. >> this is the be all and end-all for treatment in this region. the hospital operates as the only phase 1 trauma care for the are region. >> reporter: many hope it will stay true to it mission of caring for all patients including the poor and uninsured. >> it meant so much to the city and this region because it's th

i'm randall pinkston, thank you for watching. "america tonight" is next. [ ♪ music ] >>> good evening, i'm michael oku, this is a special edition of "america tonight". this evening we focus our lens on a 1300 acre scratch of south los angeles, it was referred to as a cattle ranch, then a major railroad junction. at one point nicknamed mud town for the many dirt roads that respect unpaved. after 1965, very few would call it anything but want. decades later that symbol symbolic for all that could go wrong. 50 years ago the tension and frustration simmering for years between the residents and police came to a boiling point. what started as a routine traffic stop evolved into a race war. the riot served as a wake-up call for those in power, and the powerless. with deadly incidents involving police use of excessive force grabbing headlines, tonight, on the 50th anniversary of the riot, we examine what, if anything, was learnt from the tough lessons, decades ago. >> the economic depp rah vasion, social isolation, ibb adequate housing i

randall pinkston has more. >> this act flows from a clear and simple wrong.t's only purpose is to right that wrong. when president lyndon johnson signed the 1965 voting rights abbing. he called it a monumental law. johnson pushed the bill through congress. the struggle was proseeded by another battle. this was known as bloody sunday, it outraged the nation. >> reporter: a few weeks after bloody sunday, marchers sent off again. on the front line of the marches that day is a man who organised the protest. the county voters league president. reverent reece, 85 years old was the person that invited dr martin luther king junior for the successful second march. later that year he was at the capital signing the rights acts. what did youening? >> i thought it was so good, after having gone flow all the difficulties we have gone through, and now we had a chance to be considered as first class citizens. >> reporter: for 50 years the voting rights act helped to transform the landscape. >> president obama is not president of the united states if it were not the act. >> r

frequent pliers, as more and more airline passage weigh in in disguise >>> good evening, i'm randall pinkston in for antonio mora. this is al jazeera. we begin with news from a campaign trail. front runners making headlines. first hillary clinton announcing she'll hand over earn email server to the justice department. and giving investigators a thumb drive with emails relating to work as secretary of state. just hours before a state department report says that two of the emails on the server had been classified as top secret. jed bush gave a foreign policy speech at the ronald reagan library. michael shure was there, joining us live. before we get to jed bush, let's talk about hillary clinton's email server, why do you think she's handing it over now? >> well, she's handing it over because she has to hand it over. it's been in the possession of her attorney and the justice department is saying it should not be in the hands of the system. there are two emails in particular that they'll look at. we are not going to get a clans to see the emails. john kirby, the spokesperson for the state depart

i'm randall pinkston. well the stock market is plunging again for the fourth straight day. dow is down nearly 2%, 190 points lower after falling 358 points yesterday. that is the biggest win-day drop in almost five years. nasdaq and s&p 500 also trading down right now. richard wolf from the university of massachusetts says this market turmoil requires careful analysis. >> selloff has to be taken seriously, because anything of this size, happening so quickly is a warning shot across the bow of the world economy. i think the way to understand it best is to see, that when you have a global capitalism of the -- in the way that we do, a problem in one major area, it's only a matter of time before it becomes a problem elsewhere. for the last two or three years, people here in the united states, have diluted themselves, imagining that the growing problems of europe on the one hand, and the chinese economy on the other, could somehow play themselves out without reverberations here. what you are seeing now is the global recognition by the rest of the world and by people who have sto

i'm randall pinkston, thank you for joining us. for more head to aljazeera.com. >>> the battle lines in the gun control debate have been drown and they are well defined. they are creating an enforced system that is riddled with holes. recent developments have given some hope of keeping guns away from people everyone agrees should never get their hands on a gun. arm armed. "inside story". >>> welcome to "inside story". i'm del walters in for luis suarez ray suarez. president obama showed frustration at getting illegal guns out of the hands of the dangerous and off the streets. >> you mentioned illegal guns, that's an area where - you ask me what is the one area i feel i have been most frustrated and most stymied, it's the fact that the united states of america is the one advance nation on earth in which we do not have sufficient consents and safety laws. >> if nothing else, the amount of gun violence in places where it's toughest to get it legally is a reminder that there's a patchwork of laws verifying ownership. that means what is

. >> reporter: i'm randall pinkston in selma, alabama, isle have details on the challenges to votingights as the nation observes the anniversary of this historic law. >> for more on this now, we're joined by liz kennedy, a campaign strategist. liz, good morning, and thanks for your time. what does the overall landscape look like for voter's rights in this country? >> sure. well 50 years after the passage and signing of the inviting rights act which was really the crown jewel of the civil rights movement we are seeing a retrenchment where there has been a greater attack on voting rightest since the supreme court gutted the provision. so what we're seeing is attacks that are carving back particularly minority voting rights but really voting rights for americans of all ages races, parties even and it's unnecessary and un-american and congress needs to restore the voting rights act now, and we need to move towards affirmative voting solutions so that we can ease access and bring all of our voices into the process. >> how many states have enacted new restrictions since the supreme court d

i am randall pinkston.ew york mayor surging caution today amido a outbreak of reege marries disease that has claimed seven lives so far. there is no risk to our drinking water, there is no risk to our water supply. from legion marries disease. another crucial point, it is treatable, it is crucial that each case be identified early on. and that treatment will be achieved quickly. another 86 people have been diagnosed with reege nears in new york city. they are as fielding questions from hundreds of people that live in the area. >> prongs residents pack this town hall meeting tries to get'ses from health officials over the outbreak of reege marries disease in their neighborhood. reege marries is a form of pneumonia. the search for the source is focused on local cooling towers. >> more than 15 cooling tours have been effected, at least five tests positive for the bacteria. the illness attack the lungs with flu like symptoms. certain people are at higher risk. it can be quite deadly in certain patient groups. s

prognosis but said radiation treatments will continue for the next couple of months and earlier randall pinkstonpoke to a medical doctor about carter's diagnosis. >> president carter announced today he had a very slow growing malignant melanoma and with slow-growing cancers is this insidious and years in the making and president carter has been monitored closely for the possibility of pancreatic cancer with a significant family history of that, a father, a brother and two sisters who died from pancreatic cancer but the screening he underwent for that may not have detected slow-growing melanoma somewhere in the body. >> he said he had a bad cold and from that they discovered the cancer? >> hard to nknow with the bad cold early symptoms of the cancer or was it a red herring and when they worked him up they came across the cancer, it's a little hard to sort that out. >> do you know how long he has been under that testing, that monitoring for pancreatic cancer. >> something with a family history and we consider it to be at least first degree relatives so father, sibling or mother. >> he has four fir

i'm randall pinkston. dusty dry winds are fanning dozens of wildfires across the west today.rews struggling to keep up with the fight. in washington state, 200 active duty soldiers are beginning training before being send to help fight wildfires. entire towns and tourist areas ordered to evacuate. >> reporter: the massive mobilization includes an aerial assault from firefighters, smoke jumpers leaping into this rugged burning terrain in idaho. in california, the fires are punishing, 300 homes are now threatened here. resources are stretched thin nationwide as 30,000 firefighters battle blazes. but relief is on the way. soldiers from washington state have been called in to help. for some it is simply too late, what once were homes overlooking the lake, are nothing more than ash and rubble. carol joined hundreds of her neighbors who made the difficult decision to leave. >> i didn't take any family pictures or anything like that. i did not think anything was going to happen. >> reporter: and it's not just homes. this is the heart of washington state's $2 billion apple industry.

his lawyer spoke to randall pinkston. >> by the unanimous determination of six national security agenciese office of joint chiefs of staff, department of defense, justice, homeland security, all of the agencies that u.s. citizens rely on to keep him safe have said that he can leave. >> why has he not been allowed to leave? >> that question is playing right now right real time in washington, d.c. i filed a motion for his release and asked the government not to oppose it, to speed his release so he can get medical care. and it appears that the department of defense is blocking this solution. >> the justice department has until august 15th to respond to the prisoner's petition. >>> stay tuned for special coverage, out of cuba this freye as the u.s. flag begins to fly over the embassy in havana. antonio mora hosts a special hour of live coverage, beginning at 9:00 eastern. >>> coming up, painting the blues away. we'll take do you a mexico town trying to revamp its gritty image one stroke at a time. ♪ >> my name is imran garda. the show is called "third rail". ♪ >> a pharmaceutical plant in no

randall pinkston for "inside story." >> joining me now the debbie hines, currently a trial attorney based here in d.c. debbie thanks for joining us. >> thank you for having me lisa. >> what are grand juries supposed to accomplish? >> fact finding mission to decide whether charges should be brought against a defendant or no charges should be brought. that's their sole purpose, to hear witnesses, documents if any, to make a bill of indictment or new true bill. >> how effective are they? >> they are typically very effective, in the grand jury the only persons in the grand jury are the prosecutor, the grand jurors and the stenographer. that's it. for rare reasons if maybe the witness has to testify but one-sided team and that's the prosecutor. >> you've been a prosecutor, you've been on that side of it, now you're a prosecutor. what works well in terms of how the grand jury is is functioning? >> in most cases the grand jury works very well. it is not a trial. line. it is just initially to decide whether charges should be brought. and although we have been hearing about charges not being broug

good morning, live from new york city, i'm randall pinkston. wildfires burning through the west and crews are struggling to keep up with the fight. a group of active duty soldiers are preparing to join firefighters. they will be sent to battle fires that have destroyed homes and businesses from colorado to california. one blaze east of seattle has scorched 70,000-acres. nearly 1,000 people are under mandatory evacuations there. another nearby fire burned more than 12,000 acres and entire communities and tourist destinations near the flames have been forced to evacuate. >> here in washington, firefighters have made some progress. winds have calmed down just a bit, but it was too late for many homeowners. over here, very little is left, just ash and rubble. we see a door here, a garage door, looks like some animal cages here and all along the streets, the houses look similar. they've been absolutely devastated. now four to 500 homes here in the area are still in harm's way. people had still been evacuated, leading to a new problem for fire crews.

randall pinkston is here with details. a a lot of people are talking about this. what is in this study challenging commonly headlight beliefs about treatment. >> what is the appropriate treatment for women with breast cancer. research eerie viewed 20 years of data of women diagnosed with dcis. it is not a lump. the condition can only be discovered with a mammogram. with caution, most doctors view it as a precursor to cancer and recommend removal part of the breast or entire breast. the study found that the risk of dying from breast cancer was about 3% for either treatment, about the same as women in the general population. raising the question is whether you can get away with doing nothing at all. which is risky. >> but the alternative is risky, as well. >> yeah. >> doctors will say. how common is dcis? >> it has only been discovered since the use of mammograms, so about 60,000 women a year are diagnosed with it. it's known as early stage, zero early stage breast cancer. before mammograms, you couldn't really -- >> detect it. >> yeah. >> there are some in greater

i'm randall pinkston. stephanie is back in two minutes with more al jazeera america morning news. you can keep up throughout the day. check us out on aljazeera.com. >> we're here to fully get into the nuances of everything that's going on, not just in this country, but around the world. getting the news from the people who are affected. >> people need to demand reform... >> ali velshi on target weeknights 10:30p et >>> police call it an unprovoked, cold-blooded execution. why they say a gunman targeted a texas sheriff's deputy and shot him from behind. >>> tighter security at the border in austria to crack down on human trafficking after 71 bodies were found inside an abandoned truck. >>> president obama renames north america's tallest mountain. why a lot of people are outraged by the change. >>> good morning. this is al jazeera america live from new york city. i'm stephanie sy. the texas man accused of killing a police officer for no apparent reason will face a judge today on capital murder charges. houston area police are still trying to figure out a motive for the execution-sty

randall pinkston reports. >> this act flows from a clear and simple wrong. it's only purpose is it right that wrong. >> when president lyndon johnson signed the 1965 voting rights action, he called it one of the monumental laws history. the bill was pushed through congress. the political struggle was exceeded by another bat: this known as bloody sunday, outraged the nation. a few weeks after bloody sunday marchers set off across the bridge from selma to montgomery, on the front line a man that organised the protest. reverent reece. 85 years old was the person that invited martin luther king junior for the second march. later that year, he was at the nation's capital when president johnson signed the civil rights act. what did you think? >> i thought the law was so good. after having gone through the difficulties we have gone through, and now, we have a chance to be considered as first-class citizens. >> reporter: for 50 years the voting rights act helped to translate the landscape. >> president obama would not be president of the united states if it was not

the news continues next with randall pinkston.latest on the violence in turkey today. thanks for watching. ♪ >> hate for america. >> we're working with turkish authorities as they investigate this. >> an anti-american group attacks the u.s. consulate in istanbul. a day after hundreds of u.s. forces arrive in the country. >>> going nuclear. japan is set to restart a nuclear reactor at the sendai nuclear plant for the first time since the fukushima disaster. >>> ch

. >> randall pinkston has more. >> the federal grand jury in south carolina has returned a 33 count indictment against dylann roof. charging him with federal hate crimes ... >> reporter: even though dylann roof faces the possibility of the death penalty on state charges, attorney-general loretta lynch decided his alleged violence against african-american was spo extreme he should face federal penalties. >> this federal hate crime law prohibits using a dans weapon to cause injury or attempting to do so on the basis of race or colour. the shepherd-bird act was inacted to vicinitied kate the harms -- vindicate the harms caused by racially motivated violence. >> reporter: the acts was a response to the murders of two men, matthew shepherd killed because he was gay, and james bird, an african-american dragged to his death by three white soup rem sifts. >> the -- supremacists. >> the 2009 act enabled prosecutors to say when an act is motivated by violence against a class we can charge them in a federal. prosecution >>> the victims were two classes covered by the federal hate crimes act. engaged in r

randall pinkston reports. >> this act flows from a clear and simple wrong it's only purpose is to rightong. >> when president lindon johnson signed the 1965 voting rights act he called it one of the most monumental laws in american history he pushed the bill through congress but the political struggle buzz preceded by another battle. this confrontation known as bloody sunday, outraged the nation. >> on the month line was a man who organized the protest. dallas counties voters. >> reverend reese now 85 years old was the person who invited dr. martin luther king jr. for the successful second march. later in year, reese was at the nation's capitol when president johnson seened the voting rights act. >> what did you think? what i thought that the lord was so good. for after having gone through all of the difficulties we had gone through and now we have a chance to be considered as first class siseses. >> for 50 years the voting rights act helped minorities transform the nation's political landscape. >> of course, barack obama wouldn't be president of the united states if it were not for the

randall pinkston talks about problems much territories like porto rico. >> reporter: more than 4 million americans live in island territories, but do not have the same rights as mainland. in the caribbean, people in porto rico and virgin islands and in pacific, residents of gaum and mariana islands in have u.s. citizenship. people born on american samoa do not. none have the right to vote for president, but have non-voting delegates that speak for them in congress. >> these citizens na contributed and sacrificed so much cannot vote for the commander in chief. >> this is a serious number of americans we are talking about. >> reporter: civil rights reporter was raised on gaum and started the we the people project to win equal rights and representations for american citizens, no matter where they live. >> they have to follow federal laws like everyone else and based on the democratic and constitutional principles they deserve the right to vote for president and voting members of congress like everyone else. >> reporter: one law they do not have to abide by is paying federal income taxes. bu

randall pinkston is here with that.was 1960 when fidel castro's government seized the properties of thousands of people. it wasn't just cubans, many american families who owned vacation homes or were in cuba for business were also affected. they have been fighting for some $7 billion in promised settlement money for decades. surviving family members vow to keep fighting for what they say belong to his their loved ones. >> it wasn't just the, you know, monetary stuff, it was the percentage things that, you know, were taken as well. they died hard broken. i think that probably hurts me more than anything else. is knowing that they didn't -- they didn't ever see justice. >> when the property was taken families were promised compensation in the form of bonds that were never issued. in our next hour why many who are owed that money worry the new relationship between the u.s. and cuba will negatively impact their chances of ever seeing it. >>> randle, looking forward to it. thank you. >>> up next making ordinary americans ext

. >> this is aljazeera america, good morning, live from new york city, i'm randall pinkston. global markets are reeling this morning at chinese stocks take another plunge. u.s. futures falling sharply now with the dow poised to open down about 3%. let's look at the numbers. the shanghai composite wiped out all gains for the year, its largest fall in that market in eight nears. the nikkei tumbled four and a half%, hitting a five month low. australia had its worst one day sell off in four years, markets plunging wiping some 40 billion u.s. dollars off the books there. european stocks are hurting, too, in london, down two and a half%, germany's main exchange is off 3%. adrien brown has more on what's behind this from beijing. >> it is another turbulent day for asian stock markets. shanghai, the worst performing is down more than 8%, the biggest single day drop in many months. the government before the market opened has said that it was going to use billions of dollars from a state pension fund to prop up the market. that's the first time this has happened and it is a measure whi

he's called the law one of the crowning achievements of our democracy, but as randall pinkston reports, some states are trying to reverse the legislation at the cost of minority voters. >> 50 years ago, president lyndon baines johnson signed the voting rights act and ordered states to stop discriminating against minority voters. one of the reason was a series of bloody, deadly protests that took place across the south, including here in alabama. today, some civil rights advocates say voting rights laws are under attack. >> the events that are going on in north carolina and texas, in georgia and other jurisdictions are a reminder that these struggles are not only the struggles of the civil rights movement. 1960's, but they're contemporary struggles that each generation la to be judge land. the fact is that there are still those who would like to deny the right to vote to certain people. >> i'm in selma, alabama. i'll have details on the challenges to voting rights as the nation observes the anniversary of this historic law. >> you can see randall's full report tonight at 8:00 eastern. >

. >> this is al jazeera america, good morning, live from new york city, i'm randall pinkston. it is poised to be another rocky day on wall street, futures pointing up right now, despite up and down for the asian markets. traded ended down again, even after china cut interest rights in a bid to boost the economy there. tokyo's nikkei saw major rebounds to end a six day losing streak. now the question remains whether americans are still nervous over how china is handling the crisis. mary snow has been talking to traders who are getting frantic calls from investors. >> certainly that nervousness is there. those calls certainly came with speed on monday after that dramatic day on wall street. they tapered off yesterday. i think the bottom line of all of this is uncertainty, and that uncertainty, of course, stemming from china. the big question that still remains to be seen is how much does this affect the u.s. economy. we've been talking about it now for several days and we really don't have an exact picture. one of the things that is also unsettling i guess the fact that there is

live from new york city, i'm randall pinkston.ropical storm erika is dumping five inches of rain on puerto rico, as it continues its path through the caribbean. four were killed as erika dumped 15 inches of rain on that small island nation. twenty people are missing there. fast-flowing rivers swept up cars, landslides blocked roads, power and water supplies knocked out. the storm now heading towards florida. kevin joins us with details. >> this storm has been inconsistent and hasn't gotten its act together. since yesterday, taking a look at the satellite and radar, you can see the rain showers in puerto rico. the radar ends here, but the satellite as you can see, the actual center of the storm is not here, it's here towards the west. we do think that as randall said, puerto rico will be getting up to about five inches of rain over the next several hours, but my concern as we go through the rest of the morning into the afternoon is the dominican republic and the reason being is it's a very high island with very high mountains acros

. >> this is aljazeera america, good morning, live from new york city, i'm randall pinkston. the world markets seem to be sablessing this morning despite big sell off in asia. futures here point to a big surge at the open, despite another sell off in shanghai and tokyo's nikkei. in china it turned dramatically negative. the country is cutting the interest rates to try to stop the bleeding. >> trading opened on tuesday across the asian pacific and they opened with baited breath wondering how the market would react considering china's fall was so tract particular on a monday. the markets were shaky, most of them making losses in the early part of trading. they regained some of that ground as the day progressed, and made up in some cases on those losses. markets that were in profess certainly saw themselves reach the black again, with taiwan, australia, singapore, but the shanghai composite perhaps the market that many global eyes were focused on ended at 7.63% down on the day, tokyo said market was down by 3.96. korea seems to be one of the very few markets making a above gain

. >> this is aljazeera america good morning live from new york city i'm randall pinkston. thousands of firefighters are working to contain hundreds of wildfires burning across the state in california. they've burned more than 100,000 acres of land, destroying homes and roads along the way. we have more. >> fires are burning all along the west coast but the worst hit area is northern california. the largest fires burning north of san francisco where it has destroyed two dozen homes. >> day and night firefighters are racing against the clock trying to contain wildfires blazing in california, washington and oregon. >> doomsday, that's what it looked like. >> the flames are fueled by lightning, trees and high temperatures. >> we have seen a couple of spot fires and those escalate, got pretty big and took up the mountain. >> firefighting planes are making the rounds, including dc10 tankers releasing fire retardant. an evacuation order has been issued north of san francisco. one resident is temporarily camping in an r.v. with his pet. >> just quiche and eye to see when we can ge

good morning, live from new york city, i'm randall pinkston. friends and family are remembering two killed live on television and we're learning what drove the alleged gunman to violence. the two were reporting live when a former colleague opened fire. flanagan later shot himself after posting images of the attack on social media. al jazeera's choosing not to show those images. flanagans twitter and facebook pages were filled to outrage aimed at his former employer. police say the gunman left behind a manifesto. >> in this bizarre manifesto that arrived by fax two hours after the shooting here at the bridgewater plaza, lee flanagan talks about himself as being a human powder keg, full of anger about things like the charlotte shootings in july in south carolina, after which he bought his weapons, he says, two days after that incident. he said he's also inspired by the columbine shooter back in $19.99 in which 12 people died, including one teacher. virginia tech shooting in 2007, in which 32 people died, and flanagan goes on to talk about him hav