dime of the clients. >> greed... >> bernie was stealing every nickel but he wasn't trading anything. >> ... and entitlement. >> you took my grandchildren's future away from them. this is al jazeera america live from new york city. i'm tony harris with a look at today's top stories. ferguson protesters holding demonstrations in 30 cities across the country as the president calls for more police to wear body cameras. the supreme court set to decide where the line is between free speech and threats on social media. and a college football player found dead with a history of concussion concussions.

we begin with the president proposing changes to police forces across the country in response to what has happened in ferguson. this happens as 30 cities across the city are participating in strikes. a few hours ago, protesters marched through the streets of new york city demonstrating against the decision not to indict darren wilson in the shooting death of michael brown. let's begin live at the white house. mike, the white house is asking congress for $263 million in response to ferguson. how does it plan to use that money? >>reporter: a lot of the protesters that you see around the country and for sure there are some in washington blocking rush hour traffic, all eyes looking for justice from the department of justice. remember, there are two

investigations going on there. no word on the results of that. in the meantime, president obama all ferguson all the time with three separate meetings on the issue. one just concluding with civil rights and community leaders including some from ferguson. among the proposals put forward today, $263 million. he's going to ask congress for that for the upcoming budget year. among that is $75 million for up to 50,000 body cameras to be worn by police officers across the country. the balance of that 263 million is for reform and train bing. the president also wants to form a commission on ensuring trust as the white house put it between communities and law enforcement. he signed an executive order to fill that commission.

people look at the equipment at the police forces are deploying and they are saying it is too much and incites violence, the president wants to review that as well. the topic at the white house today, here's what his spokesman had to say. >> i think this is evident from the series of announcements that have been made here today that the underlying ing issues here are broader than just race. it's the foundational relationship between law enforcement and the communities they're sworn to protect. >>reporter: on this issue of the militarization of police, heavy equipment, the white house says once they look at it, 96% of that was transferred to the government and local communities as office equipment only 4% of it they say is the heavy

military-style equipment on the streets. the white house is actually defending that in some instances citing the boston bombing incident as when it was deployed. >> thank you. let's go live to jonathan martin in ferguson. >>reporter: this is the first meeting of this commission that was appointed a few weeks ago. 16 people in the community were appointed, two police officers on this commission. their goal is to dig very deep find out some of these social and economic issues highlighted by the death of michael brown. issues dealing with education, poverty, and the way law enforcement interacts with people in the community. about 300 people applied, 16

were chosen. that he all agree their goal is to find solution >> i look forward to sitting in the discomfort that comes when we have real conversation about race, race which i think is the basis of our economic disparities, race that i think is the basis of our educational inequity. >> we want to work to not take sides or place blame for anger or hurt or fear. >> the scab has been pulled off this wound numerous times and we find ourselves in a place where we put a band aid on it. i think it's time that we find an antibiotic for the issues, the separateness. >>reporter: so this is a

five-hour meeting today starting at noon local time and ending at 5:00. in about 30 minutes, there will be a public hearing portion of the meeting which is what a lot of people came here for. they want to give their input and concerns and hopes to this commission. so we'll have more on that at 6:00. >> one more question, how much authority will this commission have? >>reporter: technically, they are a governing body under this executive order under the governor they will be appointed. so there will be a budget. we don't know how much that entails at this point but they will be meeting over the next year and making recommendations to the governor and having a report within the year. >> all right. thank you. the attorney general is speaking at a forum on race in atlanta today. it is another ferguson-related event planned by the obama administration. robert gray is in atlanta for us. and just outside the church

where holder will speak. robert, tell us about this event. >>reporter: tony, it just came together last week. in fact, the day before thanksgiving. it wasn't necessarily planned that the attorney general would come to atlanta and do this town hall but the president of the united states wanted pastor raphael warnock to speak so they decided to send the attorney general down here and create a big tent over this place fig figuratively. this is where the civil rights movement began many years ago so the attorney general arriving here very soon where there will be a town hall at 5:30. and then at 7:00 o'clock open to the public. >> what are people hoping for by

holding this forum? >>reporter: well, i can tell you we talked a little bit earlier to some of the folks in there. there's going to be five main issues brought up. one of them is the demilitarization of police. and also the repeal of the stand your ground law, perhaps pushing it through some of the local houses here across the country. they also want a repeal for the guns everywhere law which just passed over the course of the past few months here in the state of georgia. and the ban the box initiative which allows convicted criminals out of prison to get back in the workforce immediately instead of get stuck in this box where they have no opportunity. and they also want body cams on police officers so there's proof

of what actually occurred. >> and let the chips fall where they may. all right. and earlier i speak with the pastor in atlanta where holder will speak later this afternoon. i asked him if the president's request for $263 million for body cameras and more police training is a step in the right direction. >> this is absolutely essential. we're talking about equal protection under the law. that's basic to what it means an american citizen. and so i think that, that's a step in the right direction. i think that the data and the studies clearly show that with body cameras, police violence, police brutality goes down considerably. and not only does it protect citizens, it protects the police. so i think that's a welcome development. but there are other things that can be done as well. i'm a big advocate of community

policing. i think that when the police are embedded, if you will, in the community, the citizens feel like they are a part of them. it lessens the kind of adversarial nature of some of the work. and connected to that, we certainly need the demilitarization of our police departments all across the nation. >> and theful nfl will not discipline st. louis rams players for protests during the game on sunday. they did the hands up don't shoot pose before the game against the oakland raiders. the st. louis police officers association issued a letter condemning their actions. a wide receiver said the gesture was intended to be something positive. protesters in hong kong have been warned not to return to the streets. those comments come after some of the worst clashes this city has seen in months. police armed with pepper spray

and hoses cleared demonstrators near government buildings. one student leader says he'll go on a hunger strike to demand talks with the government. the nigerian group boko haram -- >>reporter: the attacks took place in two separate cities, two separate states that are under emergency for the past 18 months due to the activity of boko haram in the area. if anything, it indicates just how boko haram wants to send a message that they can carry out

attacks over large territory via occupying towns and villages and carry out large scale bombings and targeting soft targets so to speak. now, of course, the government has been saying bobbing -- boko haram has been sustaining losses in -- lashing out with attacks over the past two weeks. in the end, it is the people of the northeast who bear the brunt of these attacks. more than 1.5 million people have been displaced by those attacks. we just visited some of those displaced people and we've seen the extent of their suffering. the extent of their plight. particularly among young children who either lost their parents in the killing sprees or have been separated from their parents while trying to flee the

attacks. the world food program is stopping vouchers for syrian refugees. they said they have run out of money for the program. that they need $64 million to help them in december alone. more than 3 million people have fled syria since the up rising began three years ago. investigatorings in iraq have uncovered a no-show scandal for soldiers who are not showing up for work or do not exist. the corruption was discovered just as the united states prepares to send $1.6 billion to the iraqi army. >>reporter: at a time when iraq needs its army more than ever, corruption has been revealed on a grand scale. 50,000 soldiers, the equivalent of four full divisions are either not turning up to work or

simply don't even exist. some officers may be pocketing the money claiming more soldiers than they really have. whatever is going on, iraq's prime minister wants to find out and stop it. >> i'm sad that we pay the salaries all these salaries as iraq doesn't have the money. while our soldiers are fighting and some are killed, these are people who receive salaries and are not present on the ground and this has been allowed to happen. >>reporter: army recruits earn about $600 a month so these so-called ghost soldiers could be costing iraq $380 million a year. and this could be the tip of the iceburg. in june, four army divisions collapsed when they were confronted by isil. corruption was blamed as one reason for the collapse and with isil controlling large parts of

northern iraq, the army is under pressure to perform. it also needs more money. almost a quarter of iraq's budget next year will go to defense and security. that's a seven-fold increase on last year. >> actually, 23 billion usd cannot meet the demand. the actual amount needed is more than this. we need more numbers in military operations. the troops need continuous support. >>reporter: the u.s. plans to give iraq $1.6 million to arm and train soldiers. right now some in washington might be wondering just how wisely that money will be spent. >> the supreme court is hearing arguments today on a first amendment challenge for the modern era. the us constitution guarantees free speech but it is a federal crime to verbally threaten someone's life. today, judges are looking at a case involving threats posted on

facebook. lisa stark is live in washington to break this down for us. >>reporter: well, this case involves a pennsylvania man. his name is anthony alonis and he posted threats against his wife and a school class and against an fbi agent. his wife was concerned. she got a protective order from the court but he kept writing on facebook. next he wrote is your order thick enough to stop a bullet? his wife was obviously concerned again so the jury convicted him to nearly four years. he argued that this was free speech. he was doing rap lyrics he said and he did not mean any arm. here's his attorney. >> after the protective order was put into place, one thing he said was these are not threats.

and one thing he said repeatedly again and again is just it's wrongful to prosecute me because these are not threats. >>reporter: of course he was prosecuted and now this case is before the court to decide whether it was free speech or in fact, threats. >> what are the legal issues at work here? >>reporter: well, this really is a first amendment case. the question is what is free speech and where is the line between free speech and what's called true threats, truly threatening someone. the argument is, is it okay if someone feels threatened or do you have to have the intent to threaten them and that is what the court is wrestling with in this case. >> what are the consequences here? >>reporter: it depends which side you talk to. folks like aclu who believe he should not have been put in jail argue that this will chill free speech. if he is allowed to stay in jail. on the other hand, you have a

lot of domestic violence groups who worry this could open the flood gates on victims if he wins. >> all of those abusers out there who really didn't want to let go, who wanted to be able to hold on, who wanted to be able to continue to exert their power and control will now be provided an additional method of doing that by the court. >>reporter: and there was a lot of talk about how the words can be used in context, for example, we actually had chief justice roberts quoting rapper em and em and he said could he be arrested and the government said no it was in contest. he was performing in public in a concert. >> wow. that's a new one for the court. it's got to be new. thank you.

jamie, you think this is a fascinating case. >> i wish i was there. >> some kind of recording. >> i love this case. at bottom, it's a classic first amendment case. my right to express myself up against your right to feel safe. >> yeah. hold up your protection from the abuse order and put it in your pocket. is it thick enough to stop a bullet. >> he says that -- that was artistic expression, tony. >> there's one way to love ya, a thousand ways to kill ya. >> yeah. artistic expression. and then he -- but here's the thing. as his lawyers pointed out in court today, on facebook from jump as the kids say, he would link to the first amendment. he would link to em and em. he would link to other artists

with parallel lyrics to his own and reference his right to free expression. he argues that this was therapeutic and that he never intended to harm anyone and that the standard should be his subjective intent, not some obligative reasonable person's -- objective reasonable person's understanding of what he's saying. >> this is difficult to parse out. >> and that's what the court has to do and that's why they wear the robes. >> absolutely. any thoughts on how -- >> it's very tough. i mean, justice alito was very skeptical and said you could make threats and call it rap music. and justice scalia has always been very pro first amendment.

very, very difficult to predict this case and i wouldn't go there and i won't. >> and you won't. okay. but come on. >> but i love the case. >> but come on, chief justice roberts citing rap music. >> the beatles had a song, i won't sing, we want to bring viewers, not chase them away, but the beatles had songs about revenge about the ex-girlfriend and there's lots of music. whether it's bad and nobody is saying this man was a good artist, that's not the concern. the court is concerned with whether or not -- >> if it's a threat. >> right. and there's a federal statute at issue as well. using interstate commerce to issue threats. was it a true threat or a true

form of expression under the first amendment. >> thank you so much, jamie floyd. all right. new details coming up surrounding the death of an ohio state football player. why he mentioned concussions in the final text to his mother plus, why the cost of generic drugs is skyrocketing. >> sacrifice... >> i order you to die... >> and ultimate betrayal... drawing lines in the sand that would shape the middle east and frame the conflict today >> world war one: through arab eyes only on al jazeera america

we are learning more about what may have led to the death of an ohio state university football player. the 22 year old's body was found in a dumpster near campus on friday. what are we learning about what

happened before he disappeared? >>reporter: tony, we know that he disappeared early wednesday morning and he never returned home. we know that at some point, he texted his mother saying that he felt that he was an embarrassment and he apologized for that and he also blamed his problems on concussions. just to fill you in a little bit about his background. he spent about three years wrestling for ohio state and he joined the football team this year. his family says that he had a history of concussions. the most recent incident was last month and they say that he often complained about being confused. clearly he has death has brought to the forefront the topic of football concussions as well as suicide. however, health experts say it's just still too early to determine what led to his death. >> how has the football team and campus reacted to his death?

>>reporter: there's certainly a sense of sadness on campus, especially with the football team. he was very close with quite a few of the players. earlier today, ohio state football coach urban meyer held he has weekly press conference and showed support to the medical staff in the athletic department saying they're some of the best that he's seen. and yesterday the school issued a statement saying that it really expressed sadness and sorrow over what happened. >> this is horrible stuff. thank you. fewer americans shop until they dropped over thanksgiving weekend. a lot of retailers opened stores early on thanksgiving day but shopping was down about 11% from last year.

it wasn't a good cyber monday on thanksgiving. the dow was down moas well as t nasdaq. oil prices hit a five-year low. plus, who wins and loses as a result. the fallout after a communications director for a republican congressman takes a shot at the obama girls.

so the lame duck congress is back in session for two more weeks before the new congress takes over in january thereto are some big items and political dynamics on the agenda. >> the law makers returned to washington today facing a big

agenda and not much time to get it all done. it includes keeping the government running into the new year, the dpurntding resolution expires in ten days. several conservatives including steve king want to shut down the government over the president's executive actions on immigration reform. john boehner is trying to convince others that that would be a huge mistake. other items include renewing expired tax breaks for individuals and businesses and approving a defense measure that's passed for 50 years in a row. negotiators remain at odds over the pentagon's cost saving proposals to trim military benefits. there are just six days until the louisiana senate race runoff.

conservative groups have just released a new television ad hammering president obama over his executive actions. >> what if they held an election but america's president said it didn't count. and what if rather than listening to the voters about a new direction or talking to republican members of congress or democratic members of congress, that president decided that if the congress or the people wouldn't approve of what he wanted to do, then he would just do it anyway? >> president obama though -- 12 points. still her campaign is now running a radio ad that hammers republicans for their approach to the president. >> they have shown our president so much disrespect. they said he wasn't a u.s. citizen and sued him. and if cassidy wins, they will impeach him. >> they will meet tonight in a

face-to-face debate. >> the louisiana senate race is a top item today in 2016 presidential campaign news. hillary clinton is highlighting a fund raiser in new york city tonight. in washington tonight jeb bush is leading a fund raiser for cassidy's campaign. clinton and bush have been talking to a lot of political donors lately and are expected to make formal announcements about 2016 early next year. one high profile democrat just took a shot at hillary clinton, the governor of massachusetts nearing the end of his term appeared yesterday on meet the press. >> she's been an extraordinary public servant and would be a terrific candidate for president but i think that the narrative that is inevitable is off putting to regular voters.

i don't mean that as a criticism of her. i just think that people read inevidentbility as intitlement. and the american -- entitlement. and they want their candidate to sweat for the job. finally on capitol hill, a house republican staffer is in and out out of a job after criticizing the obama daughters. they seemed ed bored while their father had pardoned the turkey. she wrote -- it created a fire

storm and she eventually apologized for her remarks and today she confirmed that she has resigned. in other words, there is no pardon. >> that's some harsh stuff. >> what is the appropriate attire to wear at a turkey pardon? >> right. thank you. let's check in on other stories making news across america right now. >> tony, jury selection begins today in mondtana in the case o the shooting death of a german exchange student. defense attorneys are arguing the castle doctrine similar to stand your ground. they say the defendant was protecting his home and family when he fired shots into his garage. the prosecutors say he lured the 17 year old by leaving a purse out and keeping doors partially open. a massive mud slide closed a

stretch of california's pacific coast highway. the mud covers a nine-mile stretch of the roadway in malibu. heavy rains triggered the mess yesterday stranding about a dozen vehicles. minnesota has selected two facilities out of 12 that will grow medical marijuana to be sold in the state. both are in the minneapolis area and both are locally owned and run by emergency room physicians. patients can register with the state on june 1st. distribution centers will open july 1st. no delays at chicago's airports today but it was a different story over the holiday weekend. the security line at chicago's midway airport at one point on sunday was a mile long. that's right. one mile.

>> i've been here at the airport about seven hours. it took about an hour and 15 minutes to get through the security line. >> more than 3,000 flights around the country were delayed and almost 200 canceled. and for the first time in nearly 100 years, you can soon by girl scout cookies online. the organization is rolling out digital cookies. it lets troop members sell the favorites using a mobile app or personalize website meaning you can pay by credit card and have the cookies delivered right to your door. the program begins this month in some areas and starts? january nationwide. right in time for my birthday, tony. >> well mentioned. all right. see you a little later. thank you. >> thank you generic drugs are supposed to be cheap but the cost has literally skyrocketed and in

some cases have gone up 1,000%. >>reporter: he has own third degree pharmacy in columbia heights for over a decade and has never experienced anything like this before. >> we don't know how to explain it to the customers. >>reporter: he serves almost 100 people a day. predominantly black and hispanics from low income households in his d.c. neighborhood. and the big change he's talking about is the dramatic rise in the cost of generic drugs. >> they're priced so high. >>reporter: sometimes as much as 100%. even 1,000% spike. generic drugs account for 85% of all medicines dispensed here in the u.s. it's the lower prices that make them popular for both patients and insurers.

>> why are we seeing these spikes in prices of products that have been around for decades and suddenly they're going up 1,000, 2,000, 10,000% overnight and payments to the farm sis are staying the same and patients are left with the bill and pharmacies are having to subsidize big gaps in payment and losing money. >> you can catch more on that story on america tonight at 9:00 p.m. eastern and 6:00 p.m. pacific. an american couple stuck in qautar excidespite the fact tha they have been cleared of the death of their daughter.

an american couple are stranded in qatar one day after a court there overturned their conviction for starving their adopted daughter to death.

officials stopped the couple at the airport yesterday as they tried to leave. >>reporter: their situation is very tense and they don't know why the authorities are not allowing them to leave. their ordeal began last year when they were accused of wrong doing in their daughter's death. they deny the charge and they just want to return to the u.s. they are stuck in qatar after their conviction of starving their daughter to death has been overturn. >> this has been long and emotional for me and my family and we want to go home and be e reunited with our sons. >>reporter: hours after the decision, the u.s. ambassador to qatar met the couple at the airport but they were blocked from leaving by officials. they issued a statement saying we have begged the u.s. ambassador, secretary of state, and even the president to fix

this ongoing injustice. they moved to qatar in 2012 to work on a project for the 2022 world cup and in january last year their ordeal began. their daughter seen here in a home video died from dramatic weight loss. the court originally found them guilty of child endangerment and sentenced them to prison. they argued that she suffered from malnutrition related diseases since they adopted her at age four. >> you continue to feel trapped and feel that there's no end to this court that we believe is a sham. >>reporter: they sent their two sons to live with relatives in the u.s. when the court overturned their sentence on sunday, they said they wanted to return home to be with their sons and to grieve the death of their daughter. john kerry has asked for the couple to be returned to the

u.s. for now, they remain in limbo. both adoption and multiracial families are rare in qatar. they say authorities misunderstood their situation. their attorney said they have filed all necessary paperwork to be able to leave the country and they are not at risk of being rearrested. we reached out to the embassy here in the u.s. but they told us they would not make a comment at this time. >> all right. thank you federal investigators say a -- short circuits in 787 batteries last year led to uncontrolled overheating leading to fire and smoke on the planes. today marks world aids day. a new report says last year the number of people newly infected

with hiv was lower than the number of people who were hiv positive and receiving treatment. now, for millions with hiv, antiviral drug cocktails have been life savers but as jake ward reports, there are now concerns those drugs might be helping the virus mutate. >>reporter: it's a busy place full of recently diagnosed and long time patients who are all here for one long thing, antiviral drugs. >> the first time when they told me that i had to take four different kinds of pills, i was really scared. everyone knows that they bring a lot of problems. >>reporter: they're chosen from 27 possible medications. typically a cocktail of three or more is given in a single dose. they're designed to suppress the virus in the body and often make transmission more difficult.

but an american physician among the very first to discover the virus in the 80s worries that the drugs may be inviting disaster. hand balls that the unchecked use of antiviral drugs may be helping the virus mutate into a resistant form. >> if we continue to advocate the use of the drug in this country or europe, we may be breeding the event emergence of a multiresistant virus that can come back and haunt ute. >>reporter: resistance can develop when patients have too little of a drug in their body, only a single amount, or inconsistently. he studies drug resistant viruss and says that most cocktails remain effective. >> in combination, they maintain efficacy. so we're a long way off from the

situation where hiv will become significantly more difficult to treat. >>reporter: but the centers for disease control now report that only three in ten hiv positive americans has the virus under control and in milan the outlook for new drugs is bleak. >> now we're in a phase where we don't have a lot of drugs coming out. for the moment the strategy is to hold the virus off until someone finds a way to eradicate

it. but that has its own risks. a bus attack in india gone viral and the women at the center of it fought back. wow. somewhere that next. -- that's up next.

crude oil prices started a rebound today after hitting a five-year low. the national average for a

gallon of gas is at $2.77. that's $0.50 lower than a year ago. the cost of crude oil determines gas prices and as you can see, it's nose dived in the last six months. but what's good for consumers may be bad for the economy. let's bring in an economist with yahoo finance. explain the numbers here. cost per barrel and how that translates. >> gas prices and oil prices go the same direction usually. oil goes first. gas usually follows. there's a lag there sometimes maybe two or three weeks before we see the same change in gas prices but we have definitely seen the correlation in the last couple of months. oil prices down from about $110 earlier in the summer to something like $70 now and we've seen gas prices come down from about $3.65 to about $2.70.

that's a huge drop. >> is this bad news for the economy? i'm thinking about tax revenues, the federal government. or are those -- are those fees locked in? >> it depends entirely on whose economy you're talking about. there certainly are some economies highly dependent on oil for exports and subsidies to their own populations. iran, russia, nigeria is another one. for the most part, i mean, none of those nations i just mentioned is what you would call a thriving capitalist economy and neither of them with the exception of nigeria a friend of the united states. it hurts these other countries quite a lot. >> i want to get to the

international ramifications in a moment. why have the prices taken such a hit. >> there's no sort of single explanation here but it's a combination of a few things which is usually what produces these swings in the market. first of all, there's an oversupply of oil right now. the global economy is weak. we've seen u.s. producers ramping up. that's been a big story we've been hearing abilitied with fracking. and at the same time, there are other countries such as libya who were off line with oil production for a while and now are online. that has added to the supply. the european economy is terrible. the chinese economy is slowing and japan isn't doing to well either. saudi arabia and some other opec members are probably deliberately keeping their

production up when they otherwise may have cut production and they are simply trying to hold on to market share. people are speculating on how deliberate they're trying to be about pushing these u.s. producers out of the market. but it costs more to produce oil when you're fracking than it costs saudi arabia to do it. so they're playing a game of chicken here. >> okay. so let's stop there for a second. i want to get to the geo politics of all of this. and then i have a couple of more questions. the simple fix would be to stop production but oil as an economic and political commodity, the 12 nations in the organization of petroleum exporting countries or opec

controls the market. >>reporter: a three-year stretch of stability seems to be over. for russia, these are troubling times. >> it means that the russian budget has already lost some 20, 30, maybe even $40 billion. >>reporter: russia isn't an opec member but it is the world's second biggest oil producer. in 2013, energy products made up 68% of the country's export revenues. but russia's 2015, 2017 budget only balances with oil at a minimum of $100 a barrel. with current prices well below that, moscow faces difficult choices. what it can't really do is push oil prices up by limiting

production. siberian temperatures would freeze many wells if they stopped producing and they can't keep it off the market. they don't have the stores for it. are there political things going at play? >> the oil industry develops in cycles. today we're in a lower price phase because we're overproducing. >>reporter: a relaxed response but the finance minister is concerned enough to have drafted

an alternate budget taking into account slumping oil revenues. it is worth keeping some perspective here. because it's only in the last three or so years that oil prices of $100 plus a barrel have become the norm. over the last two decades, oil was actually mostly about 20 or $30 a barrel. but this is all to do with what russia has gotten used to and has planned for. so this combined with western sanctions means the kremlin needs to change its plan quickly. >> all right. so you mentioned this just a moment ago. i'll get to russia in a moment here. i'm curious about the play here in saudi arabia. is it to maybe allow the price to slide thereby making it impossible for shale oil producers to make money

ultimately driving them out of the market? >> well, they have not said what their plan is which is why we're speculating about it. and that could be possible if you want to richen the theory here, saudi arabia is no friend of iran and if anything that hurts iran is in their interest in their view so they're making the iranian economy which is bad to start off with worse. the saudi government does control oil output unlike here in the united states. the government here does not say hey producers in first-degree -- north dakota and texas, crank it up or down. saudi arabia has the ability to do that. it is worth keeping in mind that they have not increased production so it's not that aggressive. what they have done is simply maintained production where it's been even though in other circumstances you might expect

them to cut back. >> how about lifting the ban on u.s. exporting of oil? is that something that should be seriously considered by this administration and would that put increasing pressure on russia? >> well, that's a good thing to look at. if you think that the united states government, washington d.c. is behind this, then it would be logical that they would allow the export of u.s. oil because that would put more oil into foreign markets and theoretically push global prices lower. they have not done that and producers are clearly lobbying for that. i think that's going to get more serious attention as time goes on. my sense is that is not something we're going to see very soon. in fact, i think what's going on right now could be a real test case. if u.s. producers stay in business with oil prices falling, especially if they fall lower, that will demonstrate this is a very resilient industry. but if not, then maybe we can't

export. >> all right. rick, appreciate. thank you. in india, three men are under arrest following video of two women fighting off their alleged attacker >> the two young women were on a bus and are seen here fending off three men who were reportedly ahasing them just moments earlier. it started when a man started touching her sister and making kissing gestures. that's when the young man called for two other men to join him and the incident escalated to what you see here. one woman was using a belt to fight off the men. you notice the passengers are doing nothing. while the sisters were thrashing

them on the bus, sadly, others just watched. >> all right that is all of our time for this week. inside story is next on al jazeera america.