>> arthur and pauline frommer of the frommer guides, i am ali velshi, and you have been >> this is al jazeera america live from new york city. i'm tony harris with a look at today's top story. mending fences. with a key middle east ally, president obama spends the day in saudi arabia, and takes a call from the return president. weather works against the mudslide recovery efforts. >> i think the report will stand the test of time. >> a di after one report clears chris christie, he said he knew nothing about bridge gate. and we'll tell you how

scientists achieved a technological feat. >> president obama's overseas odyssey is coming to an end. on the last leg of president obama's road trip, riyadh was his time stop, but it may be his most crucial. mike viqueira joins us from saudi arabia, in riyadh. a lot for these leaders to discuss, so what came out of their meeting earlier? >> reporter: well, tony, it was a two-hour meeting, and it was dominated by two topics. the two topics that brought the president tory idea after a grueling week in europe. it's the policy towards syria

and the policy towards iran. they done even pretend that the long-time partners of the united states, the saudis for o seven decades. the saudis were were caught by surprise by iran's talks in secret. and syria last fall when the president backed away from a bombing campaign, a brief bombing campaign in retaliation and punishment for bashar al-assad's use of chemical weapons. this is something that the saudis disagreed with. the word came her is that the pt came here to look at king abdullah in the eye that though they may have tactical differences a phrase at a officials like to use here,

they're aligned in their interests on both of those issues. >> mike, the u.s. is said to be weaning itself off opec oil, as you know. has that really in a material sense diminished saudi arabia's influence? >> reporter: that's a great question because the saudis and others in the middle east have been concerned about the rebalance that mysterie shifts s east asia. but it's all part and parcel to the same thing that you refer to. the fact that the united states is emerging as the world's largest oil producer, or energy producer, surpassing saudi arabia just in the course of the next two years. officials point to two things. the president came here to make a show of solidarity, and assurance to the saudis and king abdullah, and second of all, the

relationship has gone much beyond the energy since the late 70s and the oil and the mid 70s. the saudis themselves are trying to diversify their energy sect sector. >> mike viqueira in saudi arabia, thank you. the president has come under pressure during this trip to take a stand on the kingdom's human rights records. roxana saberi is here. >> 70 lawmakers, both republicans and democrats sent this letter to president obama earlier this week. they want him to publicly confront saudi arabia over what they call torture and ban of preysfupeaceful protest. now the u.s. has a chance to

pressure riyadh. >> reporter: video like this is unusual in saudi arabia. a protest in a place where the arab spring never materialized. the government discourages dissent by dishing out money and protests have been banned. obama trip gives him a chant to criticize riyadh. >> it has some of the worst records in the middle east, and yet it gets kid gloves by this and prior presidents going to saudi arabia. >> reporter: answer peaceful dissent is a crime. >> harming the reputation of the state is an act of terrorism. >> reporter: a lot of protesters are from saudi arabia's eastern province where many of the

countries' shiite communities work in oil fields. then there is the issue of women's rights. they can't travel or marry without the permission of a male guardian. saudi arabia is the only country to bar women from diving, a ban some women have challenged by climbing behind the wheel. the time has come for women to take charge of every aspect of their lives. being allowed out is the very least of it. getting from a to b is just a minimum human right. >> tomorrow some women plan to defy government warnings not to drive. they'll take to the roads again. according to reuters, officials said that in riyadh today the subject of human rights did not come up in meetings. >> disappointing. it should have at least come up. thank you. the white house said president obama spoke to russian president vladimir putin a short time ago about a diplomatic end to the crisis in crimea.

the u.s. has drafted a proposal after a meeting with ukrainian and european officials this past week, both the u.s. and russia are saying that they want a de-escalation after weeks of tension. russia annexed crimea after voters chose to split from ukraine nearly two weeks ago. western powers say russia forced the decision by deploying troops to the region. meanwhile the u.n. said its time to find a solution. >> at this time of high tension, even sparks could cause larger flames under the circumstances. and there is worry that it could harm our ability to address other pressing concerns, conflicts and humanitarian emergencies. >> president obama told president putin to withdraw troops from the ukrainian border on friday. president putin ordered troops

to return seized ukrainian hardware. now to missing malaysian flight 370, data has shifted the location. it has moved closer to the spotted debris. it is due to be picked up tomorrow. >> reporter: it's a new start in the search for flight mh 370. planes and ships from the multi national task force headed towards a spot in the indian ocean just over a thousand miles west of perth, australia. that location is 700 miles northeast of the previous search zone where officials had thought objects in the water spotted by satellites were credible leads. australia's maritime safety authority said analysts came up with the new location after a review of existing data. they focus on the plane's original flight path from take off in kuala lumpur until it

abruptly turned west and gone from radar. >> the movement between the south china sea and the straight of malacca before radar contact was lost. this indicates that the plane was traveling faster, resulting in increased fuel usage and reducing the possible distance it traveled south in the indian ocean. >> reporter: five of the ten planes that flew over the new search zone spotted a debris field of 400 objects. officials home that ships will be able to retrieve the objects to see if they came from the missing plane. but the refocused search brings no comfort to the families of the missing passengers and crew. in beijing dozens walked out of a briefing by malaysian officials who came to update on the search effort.

>> our 154 family members are united. our chinese people are united. the truth that you want to hide will be unveiled some day. >> reporter: malaysimalaysian os insist that they reacted responsebly. >> this shows how complex this investigation is. >> reporter: because the new search area is closer to land it allows aircraft to reach the target zone in less time, and stay there longer to look for clues about what happened to flight 370. randall pinkston, al jazeera, washington. >> most of the passengers on that missing plane were chinese nationals. their relatives have been critical of the way malaysia has been handling the situation. it has created tension between the two allies. we now have more from beijing. >> reporter: the mention that they march to the malaysia embassy in beijing is personal.

one reveals an engagement ring. all addressed to missing people who were on board flight 370. and now their personal grief and anger have become a national issue. >> china-malaysia cooperation has not only benefited our people, but it's conducive to regional stability and development. >> reporter: chinese president xi i jingping visit was to strengthen the trade betwee trae relationship. but that's not the only reason that the chinese government wants to keep relations with malaysia friendly. >> china also had territory disputes with malaysia, but not as serious as with philippines and vietnam. so china will welcome malaysia

as a good neighboring country. >> reporter: but many people here are already calling for a boycott of all things malaysia malaysians. chinese tourists are already the theirs largest group of tourists to malaysia. that is expected to drop. it's not just compensation of families, it's the lack of respect for the families and china as a whole. >> reporter: they want their government to do something more to punish malaysia. >> the public pressure coming within china itself. >> it's now down to the chinese government to find a way to

balance public perception. it can't be seen to take the side of its people but it doesn't also want to risk undermining its relationship with an important ally. al jazeera, beijing. >> a massive weather system is right now dumping rain in washington and the site of that massive mudslide. crews are still operating in rescue mode with hope to find survivors, but that hope is fading. alan, what a difficult, difficult day for workers out there to do anything. >> reporter: absolutely, tony. it really couldn't be worse conditions right now. soaking rains have been falling all day. it's blustery, windy at times. just really nasty at this point. and they are still out on the scene. we didn't have an update of the number of dead that we expected this morning. there wasn't nothing in the

morning briefing of the number of people killed in this landslide. the official number is 17 with nine additional bodies that have not yet been fully processed, and apparently many more. we're waiting for a startling figure to on this thing to what people have called missing so far. there are additional nine teams brought in, and 50 more members of the national guard will help with the grid they're searching of the slide. one of the local indian tribes dropped by where we are at fire district 24, and dropped off a check for $275,000 for local relief efforts. just part of the generosity. the snoqualmie indian tribe with

more than a quarter of a million dollars. >> reporter: what do you see? >> it's mind boggling. it's wild what has happened. we were invited in by a property owner who sits adjacent to the slide. it missed her house by a hundred yards or so. she's still a little bit in shock, i think, about what happened. we talked to her about the past and the future. here's just a little ship pe snf this conversation. >> the first day seth came to me and said, marla, how can i get across here? i said come over here and cross the creek and go through the field, then you'll hit the tra trail. he knew that part. when i was standing out there i could hear him screaming. i knew something was bad. i could hear him screaming clear over here.

>> reporter: that's marla, we'll have more of our discussion with her later on tonight. really fascinating look. she has had a first-row seat on a lot of the very heroic efforts that have been going on in that slide zone. a lot of search and rescue crews using her house as a staging zone. >> allen schauffler, thank you. despite a growing backlash turkey's foreign minister defended his country's decision to block youtube and twitter. ahead of al jazeera, saying that the companies should abide by turkish law. >> reporter: the prime minister erdogan had called on his supporters to turn out in large number ahead of sunday's elections. although erdogan did not show because of losing his voice, thousands filled the square.

erdogan had been touring the country to shore up support of the election that many are calling the referendum of his leadership. the government party had been under pressure for months now still trying to recover from corruption allegations aimed at top officials, the party has come under criticism for reacting social media sites like twitter and youtube. >> our intention is not to ban all accounts. our intention is to only protect the rights of our citizens, dignity of our citizens and protect our nation's security. >> reporter: they appeared upbeat about the election.

>> very clearly there have been other election success and victory of our party. >> reporter: the basis of the election campaign has been to highlight the services the government has provided for the people. here, for example, under the leadership of erdogan, the city was connected to the rest of the country by state of the art high speed rail network. even though these are local elections, they were dedicated to international issues, something that struck a court with many supporters. >> i would like to leave together with all country turkish, kurdish, and others in the city, so erdogan provide all of us to live together. sunday's elections are possibly the toughest that erdogan and others have had to contest coming to power. they hope that it will translate

into the kind of victory that they want. >> forget a wi-fi or cable, space book is trying to beam the internet from aircraft directly to users on the ground. the company's big plan next. also, 70,000 unfilled jobs in just one city, but the workers there don't have the kills to fill--the skills to fill them. we'll tell you where and why.

>> well listen to this. facebook has announced it is positioning drones, satellite and hot air balloons around the world. the aim is bring internet to the parts of the world that does not have access. they're using the fruits of the connectivity lab to get people connected. jacob ward joins us from san francisco. jay, good to see you. explain how this is going to work. >> reporter: the problem you have trying to provide wi-fi the way facebook wants to is that you can't just do it with

towers. cell towers are too close to the ground. they get a lot of signal to a few people, but you need a higher source for the signal, and that in this case is going to be drones and satellite. that's what they're talking about. drones flies atalit flying at 6. and satellites high enough to beam to people below, but they need to boost that signal, so they're talking about connecting those via lasers. it's all in effort to bring internet to those who don't have it. >> there are plenty of areas in the country who could use this. facebook seems successful. why go off into this area? >> that's the thing. it does seem silly. it's not likes and pokes and shares, but on the other hand it is. on the one hand this could an good thing. studies have shown that economic advantagement, and changing

one's social status has to do with whether or not you're connected to the internet and know what is going on technologically. >> we'll talk to you later in the program. see you then. >> the day keeps getting worse for germ motors. recalling vehicles over concerns of faulty ignition switches, and there are reports that that figure may go higher. the grand total of recalled vehicles stands at more than $2 million. that comes on top of the news that g.m. has ordered dealers to

stop selling some models of it's very popular chevy cruse. so far the company has not given any reason for that move. normally this is the point of the show that we talk to ali velshi about the day's business but he's getting ready for a special program. he's investigating immigration and how it impacts america's economy. check it out. 7:00 eastern and 4:00 pacific on al jazeera america. michigan's job market is now gaining momentum. there are now more jobs in the state than workers qualified to fill them. bisi onile-ere talks about how michigan is trying to close the gab and get people back to work. >> reporter: as north america's biggest car and truck producers drove the workforce, but in 2009 the u.s. economy took a down turn. years later the great lake state

has a new problem. there are jobs available, about 70,000 to be exact, these are positions that don't require a college degree, but there are not enough people qualified to fill them. >> we're talking to employers, and employers are telling us we need individuals who have experiences and mechatronics as an example, or c & c machining or welding. >> reporter: michael finney heads the development corporation which just launched a program called "career jump start" which is focused on training and educating people in the skilled trades industries. all participants are still in high school. >> it's amazing to be able to take something like a robot and be able to have it make something. >> reporter: 17-year-old neil kraft can among a dozen students enrolled in the state's new program at lancing community college. >> can you look at this and see what could be wrong with this system? >> reporter: today they're getting a lesson on

mechatronics. >> the mechatronics in particular really drew me in. i know there is a demand for these types of career options, you know, being able to program robots, things like that. it really just kind of drew me in. >> reporter: and it's that connection that michigan is hoping to achieve. career jump start was modeled after the german education system which at sometimes tailors learning to market demand. organizers here believe what worked for the germans will also work here in michigan. right now michigan's unemployment rate is 7.7 percent. governor rick snyder said closing the talent gap is the single most important issue which could bring unemployment down by 1.5%. salaries for these skilled trades jobs could range between $50,000 to $100,000 a year. for kraft, who is a senior, the opportunity seem endless.

>> that's what this has really done. it's given me the opportunity to see, well, is this something that i want to do for the rest of my life? so far i've found that i'm very interested in. >> reporter: training for tomorrow today with the hope of filling michigan's skill shortage and building the economy. bisi onile-ere al jazeera detroit. >> a day after his attorneys cleared him of any wrongdoing in the bridge scandal, what chris christie says about his political future, a possible white house run. and in afghanistan, there is dead lie violence there.

>> new jersey governor chris christie is in full damage control mode again tonight. the day after releasing an internal report on the bridge

closing scandal conducted by his team of attorneys. >> i told them to find the truth no matter where it led, and to turn over every rock that they're able to get to in order to get to the bottom of what happened, and let mow kno me knt the truth was. >> reporter: john terrett with the news of today's news conference. the reason why we're following this man so much nationally, we're a national network. >> reporter: right. >> the governor was asked if he thought that this scandal would impact any potential run for the presidency of 2016. >> reporter: the man despite everything, the man most likely to in 2016 for the g.o.p. up against hillary clinton, assuming she runs. >> yes. >> reporter: that's where we start. and he was much more spirited today. he was the old governor. he hadn't done a news conference like this since that long two-hour one back in november. he was, you know, kind o he wasg

barbs at journalists again just as he always used to do. he was asked directly, has this hurt you, and will this hurt your run in 2016. he said, yes, it has done some damage, but he said this would not make any effect on the decision for 2016. let's take a listen to how governor christie phrased it. >> in the long sweep of things any voters if they consider this issue at all, considering my candidacy if there ever is one, i got a feeling it will be a very small element if any element at all. if i were running for re-election tomorrow maybe it would be a moment to me. i already run for election and got 61% of the vote. if i was running in the future, you know all they'll care about, the few days before the election, not the ones now.

they don't mean anything. >> now a lot of commentators are not at all sure that he has got that one right, but what they're tying to do is to give the complex, the feeling that bridge gate is coming to an end. >> i don't know that it is. the chairman of the port authority. >> reporter: david samson's business has grown exponentially over the years the longer their relationship has gone on. it was a very small law firm and now it's a very big law firm. governor christie saying today that he realizes this relationship of the port authority between new jersey and

new york has had friction and may be the bottom of this case. it could lead to more questions than answers. and so by resigning today plays into the narrative that governor christie wants to project, that this is the end of the scandal. >> is it? >> reporter: a lot of people do not think so, and a lot of people with clout, the joint chairs of the senate committee in new jersey, which is looking into this whole affair, they say this is not the end of it, and the federal authorities continue their investigations at multiple levels. >> john, appreciate it. j.t. john terrett with us. african migrants looking for work for years tried slipping past the border defenses of spain and morocco. on friday, some 800 migrants tried scaling the walls of more rack rowmorocco.

here is our report. >> reporter: on friday 800 african migrants tried to cross into the moroccan side. ten made it through. it's a familiar routine for the spanish police. over the years this fence has gotten higher and higher. these migrants are already on spanish territory. they shout freedom to encourage their friends on the other side, and they came to the fence for several hours. back in february over 200 got through in the biggest breakout in recent times. many of them come from cameroon and other sub-saharan countries. they seek work and a better life in europe. most arrive without passport or papers. spanish authorities are on owe obliged to process their application. if they can't prove where they

came from they can't send them back. >> in egypt four people were killed as hundreds protested the former military chief's decision to run for president. a 23-year-old journalist was killed reportedly by a live round as security forces broke up marchs in cairo. protesters blame abdel fatahalcycy for orchestrating a military coup. sisi supporters staged rallies across the country.

>> there are fears violence will only get worse as next week's presidential election draws closer. bernard smith has our report. >> reporter: the taliban fighters armed with grenades and assault rifles shot their way into the headquarters of a foreign charity working in afghanistan. one attacker blue himsel blew ho blow a hole in the gate of the building. there is gun battle around the building. the house is i not far from afghanistan's parliament. people were evacuated from neighboring properties. one woman was carrying a child. they were forced to take shelter as the battle conditioned.

conditioned--as the battle continued. they're easy targets and are unlikely to have defenses that comcan with stand suicide-bombe. in comparison, government buildings have concrete blast walls and have sealed off streets and 24 hour protection. this is the third attack in kabul. it follows an attack on a hotel and the election commission. all on the taliban's promise to do it's best to disrupt elections on april 5th. >> another reversal in the michigan same-sex marriage case. just days after the state halted them maria ines has more on that and other headlines. >> reporter: tony, there is a new development in michigan's same-sex marriages performed last weekend.

today u.s. attorney general eric holder said that the marriages will be recognized by the government. that means federal benefits will be extended to more than 300 couples. they got married after a judge ruled the state's ban was unconstitutional. in virginia, former alabama center jeremiah denton died at the age of 89. he became a national hero during the vietnam war. in an interview during his captivity. he conveyed he was being tortured. he did this by blinking his eyes by using morse code. a jet plane in florida had to make an emergency landing. the aircraft was carrying 142 passengers. it was directed to jfk airport where it landed safely. no injuries were reported. in texas, three patrol officers are being called heroes today. they pulled a driver from a burning vehicle yesterday after it vaulted off an elevated

highway. a fire extinguisher was used to put out the fire. in new mexico a zoo had on evacuated after a bear cub escaped from his cage. did you keepers accidently left water running in the bear's moat. that allowed him to swim across it and climb to the roof. game officials were able to coax the cub back in after an hour. >> coax that little cub back with a honey pot, no, that was pooh. >> reporter: you got your stories straight. >> appreciate it. thank you. >> reporter: have a good weekend. >> i'm silly. it's friday. >> reporter: yep. >> hello, argentina, coffee is serious business. they want it declared as part of their cultural heritage. we have more on what all the fuss is about. >> reporter: morning, afternoon, or evening, the residents of

buenos aires drink coffee. expressos, macchiatos, whip creamed, doubled, in a mug. >> more than a custom. it's an excuse for us to meet, to chat for a while. 20 minutes, half an hour, it's a good excuse. >> the argentine ministry of culture has called unesco to declare coffee drinking as part of buenos aires' heritage along with tango dance and musk. local landmarks each with its own history and clientele, there

are few finer places in the world in which to drink coffee. to chat, to read, to write or stare blankly into space. but the truth is, at a risk of offendining locals here, the coffee could be better. there is now a new way to improve the coffee drunk by the locals with better beans and brewing methods which seem to be to their taste. >> the reaction has been one of surprise. they've been drinking something out of habit and suddenly they try something delicious and ask themselves, why was i drinking that? >> reporter: the coffee culture in buenos aires is changing. independent cafes are facing challenges from the outside all in a cup of coffee.

>> scientists have found a new way to look at our universe. they've just finished turning a mammoth collection of space photographs into a single digital tour of the galaxy. jake ward is back with us from san francisco. this has been described as a 360-view of the galaxy at our finger tips, is that about right? >> reporter: that is about right. i did not understand the appeal of this thing, oh, yeah, a big photo of space. but i didn't get it until i got my hands on the joy stick and moved among 2.5 million photographs of the galaxy. between 1990 and 2003 nasa made up the agency's great observatory program. each telescope saw things differently. the hubble saw visible light the same way we do. compton saw high energy gamma

rays, and now the youngest of the you four satellites just finished its mission. the telescope is an infrared camera. it detects objects that our eyes can't see, and it has taken 2.5 million photographs of the course of ten years in operation. here at caltech in pasadena they managed to stitch all of those photographs together in one incredible panorama. >> what does our galaxy look like? you would think that it would be simple because we're in the middle of it. but that's what makes it hard. it's kind of like being dropped down in the center square of the city, and be told, i want to you draw a street map now. >> reporter: that's what makes the telescope so useful. that's why we're lucky they've just pieced together the ten-year panorama of our galaxy. 2.5 million photographs stitched together in one big view which allows you to zoom in incredibly far to see all the way out past

the dust and so forth that blocks our normal vision, and look through infrared and out at stars that are all the way out to the edge of our known galaxy. >> being able to see all of it in infrared means that we're seeing stars 100 sometimes larger than our sun. >> it is known as anna karina. it's one of the most massive stars of our galaxy and it may be the next star in our galaxy to go super nova. everything that you see in this nebula, all of these tortured shapes, and pillars are all regions that the light from the star has sculpted. >> because it's so powerful and so bright. >> reporter: the ability to navigate throughout the stars is invaluable to astronomers, but even to a casual observer it's mind blowing. the next closest star to ur own is only 4.3 light years from our

sun. yet the planets that go around it are so tiny in these photographs that we can't even see them. they don't even take up a single pixel. and ana karena. that's 8,000 light years away. all that enorimit causes my brain it collapse on itself. this is like cheesy art, something that you would put on a van, but yet it's beautiful. it actually exists. that's what is so amazing. >> reporter: jacob ward, al jazeera, california. >> cool stuff, jake. is this really the most cutting-edge imagery that we have at the moment. >> reporter: this is a complete look at the universe. in our lifetime we're probably going to see something more amazing. the james web telescope is a

bigger badder, older brother of hubble. that's in development now. and then gal la will chart out where everything is in our galaxy. we'll be able to have a map that is 3d, go in the stars and look back at them. i say it every show, but--bboh--this thing blew my mind. >> the implosion. jake, appreciate it. jake ward. it's a good day, friday. tech friday, oh, coming up on al jazeera america, scientists are figuring out new ways to use algae to make medicine, fuel, even food. the techno crew. we'll explain how it works. véria

>> this is the real deal man...

>> as you know california has been suffering from a near record drought for more than a year now. but it is even worse in neighboring nevada. that state has been suffering from a drought for more than a decade with no end in sight. melissa chan reports. >> reporter: lake mead, the largest reservoir in the country. created in the 19 30's with the completion of hoover dam. it has relybly provided water for decades. but it's future is not looking as bright. >> you know, in 2012 and 2013 those consecutive years were two of the dryest years on record. >> reporter: take a look behind me. this white band is the watermark where the water used to be. we're now standing 100 feet below the top of that mark. the lake is at its lowest level since construction. after more than a decade of drought the lake now holds only half of its maximum capacity.

because it provides 90% of the las vegas water, the stakes are high and pressure on to secure water for the city. >> right now the limiting factor for las vegas is water. sooner rather than later it's going to come back to bite us because water is not an unlimited source. >> reporter: it turns out the city of excess has one of the highest per capitol water consumption in the country. the biggest culprit, not hotels and casinos, but landscaping. at golf resorts but also in suburban sprawl. 70 to 100,000 new residents move here every year. las vegas saw a dip in the recession, but it's making a comeback, and the water supply must meet future demand. >> that's approximately 2 million people that depend on our organization to make sure

that every time they turn on the tap water comes out. that's a responsibility that we do not take lightly. >> reporter: indeed, the water authority will spend big money to fulfill it's mission. lake mead currently tops out at 1,100 feet above sea level with two intake pipes pumping water to las vegas. if dry conditions continue it will start exposing the pipes making pumping water impossible. at a cost of 817. million dollars the authority will now build a third intake sucking water from the bottom of the lake. it's an inex-pen project and the water authority said not the only answer. conservation remains equally important. >> part of the challenge has been to get people to realize the changes they make at their one little house in this vast metropolis really makes a difference if everyone participates. >> reporter: it may be that the

desert city's bigges biggest gae yet, chases growth. >> it has been around 735 billion years and all of a sudden algae is the next big thing. it dates back to the 1970's gas shortages. but now it is coming of age. "techknow" has the story for us. [♪ music ] >> reporter: there is a bloom occurring deep in the arizona desert under the son's piercing rays. this vast landscape is home to a new technology that is reinventing one of the earth's oldest life forms. 3.5 billion years in the making algae is making a new name for itself. >> people think algae pond scum. that's not pond scum to us. it's really gold.

>> reporter: so, why algae? >> soybeans, corn, trees, any type of fruit, they have to grow roots and tree trunks, leaves, and then they put out their fruit or their seeds. algae are able to take 100% of their energy and focus on antioxidants, nutrients for itself as it survives for 3 billion years. it probably has capabilities beyond many other organisms around the world. unlike corn and soybean only take a few days. it may double, quadruple in size over a 24-hour period. >> reporter: there is a rainbow of algae and a spectrum of possibilities. these tubes contain an algae that is producing bet at carti. the oil could be used for food or biofuel. >> there could be a potential

customer who comes to us and says i need this protein or antioxidant. >> reporter: when you're talking about products that is protein or antioxidant. you're producing what you want. >> that's exactly right. these are amazing. every one of these is a bio manufacturing facility. creating these amazing little products right inside that cell. multiply that by trillions, you have valuable product. >> joining me now from los angeles, good to see you. >> reporter: good to see you, too. >> i'm scratching my head, really? do we want to grow all this algae? why would we want to grow this green sludge, the stuff that we saw in your piece? >> reporter: i think the attraction for the use of algae is that it's more environmentally friendly.

we're able to do the things that algae can do but the process produces a lot of waste and more challenging to the environment. by harnessing what algae does naturally we are able to produce oils, pharmaceuticals and other things in a more healthy way. >> i remember scientists, i guess it wasn't that long ago, i don't want to date myself, but thinking of the thought that algae could one day be used like replacing gasoline. is that even still viable? >> reporter: we think of the idea that algae is where we get our gasoline to become with, the crude oil that we pull up from the ground is dead algae from many millions of years ago. what we're doing now is trying to take algae that is growing now and turn that into energy. but right now we're able to do it in a very cost-effective way. >> well, how expensive is it? >> reporter: the average estimate is around $25 a gallon. so i'm not sure i want to be putting that in my car just yet.

>> yeah, yeah, yeah. tomorrow's "techknow" also has a controversial peace a piece as l about law enforcement. >> reporter: the eye in the sky. the idea that law enforcement is spying on us from planes up in the air. allegedly for our safety, and there is some controversy that surrounds that. >> crystal, good to see you. thanks for your time. >> reporter: thank you very much. >> that's a terrific show, "techknow" saturday night 7:00 p.m. eastern and 4:00 p.m. on the west coast and it is right here on al jazeera america. okay, we'll give you a quick update of the day's news and then it is real money with ali velshi from phoenix, arizona.

>> this is al jazeera america live from new york city. i'm tony harris with a look at your top stories. president obama in saudi arabia. he spent time with king abdalluh

for nearly two hours. four people have died in demonstrations against egypt's former military sta abdul fatahl see see p. the search location for missing malaysian flight 370 has shifted to a new location. the chinese ship is expected to pick up debris spotted in that area. a report on the george washington bridge closing scandal governor chris christie reiterates that did he not know about the lane closing. the investigation was conducted by christie's own lawyers. rough day for general motors. the company recalling 800,000 vehicles over concerns about faulty ignition switches. and there are reports that that figure may go higher.

the grand total of recalled vehicles stands at more than 2 million. this comes on the top of the news that g.m. has ordered dealers to stop selling popular models of the chevy cruse. ali velshi and "real money" is next.. >> they come to america from all over the world seeking a better life. we will look at a controversial program. and how an undocumented immigrant could be your boss and it's all perfectly legal. did you say put up a fence and deport them all? but get ready to pay more for your family at the grocery store. i'll explain why. i'm ali velshi in