fonoimoana says he's grown weary of wind energy so close to home. >> this is al jazeera america. live from new york city. i'm tony harris with a look at today's top stories. "rolling stone" magazine apologizes. and president obama nam namic ashton carter as the new secretary of defense. and police begin wearing body cameras. and more than 300,000 new job created this month, on track to make this year the best year nor

job gains since 1989. >> and we begin with new developments in the story of a woman who claims she was gang raped on the university of virginia campus. now "rolling stone" is casting doubt on the article, saying that it's trust was misplaced. it published a woman's account of being raped at a fraternity in 2012. the university suspended all from ater nights because of the article. . >> tony, this is as big a bombshell as the article itself. rolling stone is apologizing for this article it published two weeks ago, alleging a brutal gang rape at a fraternity party on the u of uva campus.

and it's based on the accounts of a woman that the "rolling stone" called jackie. but the reporter never talked to the alleged attackers as a courtesy to jackie as she asked them not to do so. now they're apologizing. in the face of new information there appears to be discrepancies in jackie's account, and we have come to the conclusion that our trust in her was misplaced. as you know this article created a firestorm on campus, tony. they did suspend the fraternit fraternity's activities for a time. the police began to investigate this alleged gang rape and the university is looking at the task force of how it handles sexual assaults. >> far from calling it discrepancies in the article. the lawyer for the fraternity

says he has proof that the account was false. what do they say to that? >> we have an attorney from the fraternity. here are some of the discrepancies they're pointing out. jackie claimed it was a member of the fraternity who was a lifeguard at the aquatic center who assaulted her. they said there is was no lifeguard at th the th the aquatic center at the time this event took place. and there were more discrepancies based on the article in the rolling stone. >> what had been the university's reactions through the initial parts of the rolling stone investigation? >> well, we spoke at that time after the article came out, al jazeera america spoke with the "rolling stone" author, and

she said that the university had stone walled her reporting events. she spoke to us soon after the article came out. >> i think they've known for a long time that a great harm was done to this student and many students. they're only taking action now because there has been a great harm done to he's reputation, and it's always been paramount to them. >> of course now the reputation of "rolling stone" had taken a hit. now we spoke to an uva grad, a woman who said she was raped, and she was also a friend of jackies. >> i will say that i have spoken with her recently, and i can say she is well. as far as helping her through the experiences i did what any good advocate would do, that is simply to believe, reassure that it's not their fault and reflect the feelings that they're sharing with you because they're entitled to feel whatever it is that they're going through. >> now again, of course, this

was an interview a few days after the article came out. the "washington post" has talked to her as jackie's story is falling apart. she said at this point she does not know what to believe. but a lot of groups are saying this should not deminut diminish the fact that sexual assaults occur on campus and it is a huge problem, and they hope this is not turning the issue away from trying to fix it on campuses. >> president obama officially nominated ashton carter to be his next secretary of defense. if confirmed by the senate carter would replace chuck hag hagel, who announced his resignation last month. what would ashton carter bring to the top job? >> i'll tell you what president obama would get with ashton carter. one, he gets smarts. 's physicist, he's one of the

people who knows how these sophisticated weapons work, and he's savvy, he knows how the bureaucracy works. by the time the president made the announcement this morning it was washington's worst-kept secret. >> i'm pleased to announce my next nominee to be our secretary of defense, mr. ashton carter. with a record of service that has spanned more than 30 years as a public servant, as an adviser, as a scholar, ash is regarded as one of our foremost security guards i accepted the president's offer to be nominated for secretary of defense because of my regard for his leadership. i accepted it because of the seriousness of the strategic challenges that we face, but also the bright opportunities that exist for america if we can

come together to grab hold of them. >> reporter: what he's most known for is his keen intellect. i traveled with him in the 1990's. i remember we were having an argument about something. he said, jamie, your theory is good, but it doesn't fit the facts, and then he proceeded to convince me why i was wrong. >> oh he likely to face any problems? >> reporter: well, he's clearly very well-qualified. you can see that from statements from some of the senators, lindsey graham, senator john mccain admits that he's highly qualified, and he has dealt with him before. but mccain hinted what he's going to be giving a rough going over is president obama's foreign policy. it looks like the confirmation hearing will be a forum for the republicans to attack the obama

administration foreign policy. >> thank you. one of ashton carter's biggest challenges will be the fight against isil. during a white house meeting the president said that the u.s. and it's allies are making slow but steady progress. but isis and curbedish fighters are locked in a stalemate. >> suicide bombs and street fighting have reduced large parts of this town to republic. most civilians are long gone. many of them would have trouble finding their homes if they came back. but despite the destruction, these kurdish fighters are dodging isil fighters along the front lines, that have remained largely unchanged. >> reporter: it's true, we haven't made a major advance in kobane. our fighters maybe progress

every day. but it's slow. the slow advance is deliberate as we prepare for a major advance. >> there are airstrikes every day. at least 16 around kobane in the first four days of december compared to 11 across all of the parts of iraq and isil control. kobane was never really strategic important, but it became symbolically important as syrian kurds put up a fierce resistence to isil's advance. now both sides are locked in a battle that has a lot to do with trying to preserve or enhance reputations. >> isil has poured fighters into kobane. it's supply routes are still apparently uneffected. this was a recent suicide car bombing at a board crossing. the victory for kobane woul would be try, um try try, um

triumhant over the united states. >> street fighting is really tough. we can only clear it by clearing one house at a time. 12,349 the u.s. and coalition partners are unwilling to get involved with combat efforts. for now kurds and peshmerga must fight their own battle manufacturers bernard smith, al jazeera, on the turkey syri border. >> the president wants to put a body camera on all police officer. >> reporter: the police commissioner said that officers at three of the city's 80 pres

80 precincts are testing the body cameras today. as questions about police conduct intensify, the mayor said he's speeding up the process. this officer is demonstrating a body camera that three of u.s. city's police precincts are testing starting on friday. when the police interact with the public they're supposed to turn on the cameras to record the whole encounter. three more precincts will start testing them next week. >> for 60 to 90 days we'll look at it before we make decisions on the larger acquisition. [ protesting ] 7 the move comes as there are month protests over the death of eric garner in july and the decision on tuesday not to indict the officer at all. the police say they arrested 200 demonstrators on thursday night. the police commissioner said on friday that with 35,000 officers the department is prepared to

keep protests under control. but he also said that the rallies are diverting officers from their regular duties. >> the longer this goes on the more impact it has delivering basic services to the rest of the city. we're doing pretty good right now because of the sheer size of the department, but let's hope that over time the point will be made, and the nature of history is that they will diminish over time. >> reporter: protesters intensifying their calls to end what they say is a nationwide problem of police brutality. in phoenix on thursday night demonstrators protested the police shooting of an unarmed black man earlier in the week. a white officer shot romaine brisbane after mistaking a pill bottle in his pocket as a handgun it doesn't matter what color you are today. there are all types of people today. we're here to raise our voices.

>> reporter: the phoenix police department said that protests arprotests are linked to tensions across the country. >> this has to do with the latest shooting that occurred in phoenix. it is something that we have to work through as a nation. >> reporter: a group of u.n. human rights experts said that the grand jury has sparked legitimate concerns about police practices across the u.s. >> a 130-mile trek for more than a hundred protest he is is over. it started on saturday and ended at the state capitol. and jefferson city, the seven day journey for justice made it's way through lynn missouri yesterday. the group is demanding. cops skilled 12-year-old tamir rice last month thinking the toy gun he was holding was real. two police officers were also named in that lawsuit.

the monthly jobs report offered a mixed bag. employers added 321,000 jobs in november. the most in nearly three years. but the unemployment rate held steady at 5.8%. patricia sagba is here to explain. the rates stay the same. what do you make of this report? >> let me say this was a blockbuster of a report. that's 100,000 more job than most economists were expecting. that was a very, very positive finding. you have to keep in mind that for the last ten months the economy has added more than 200,000 jobs. we haven't seen a winning streak like that since the clinton administration. just to give you perspective on why this report is very, very positive. there really has been two things that have been sorting dragging on the jobs recovery. one is the quality of jobs. and the other is average hourly

wage. we have very encouraging news on the quality of jobs. solid, middle class jobs are the type of jobs we want to see created. and a lot of business and services jobs as well. we're getting a lot of jobs in the mix. we've seen slow up tick in wages, but last month we saw hourly wage go up $0.09. that's a positive trend. we want people to get more money in their pockets and spend more and grow the economy. >> the number of so-called discouraged workers is about 700,000. that's i guess unchanged from a year ago. this feels like a pretty good problem, but you tell me. >> well, there is certainly some pockets and things we want to

see improved. you mentioned discouraged workers. people who work part time when they would rather work full time, that number has gone down but it's well above its historic trend. one thing to report is this is one month, and we'll watch to see if this trend of more jobs, more high-paying jobs, and key that better wages hold out. >> the good november jobs report led to another record day for stocks. take a look at the numbers here. the dow gain 59 points. the s&p 500 up 3 points and the nasdaq up 11 points. the orion spacecraft, how can it pave the way to mars. and how the flu vaccine may not cut it when it comes to protecting you from the flew.

>> lift off and landing today for nasa's orion mission. have a look. >> at lift off, at dawn. >> how about it, it was a day late but the rocket left the space center at 7:05 this morning. everything went according to plan, and orion completed it's test flight and splashed down. the mission was unmanned mostly to test this spacecraft's heat shield. it reentered it's atmosphere and nasa hopes to take people further into space to places like mars. how did the day go? >> it went great. it went awesome. a beautiful thing. >> there was an extra date here.

>> an extra day. >> the launch was scrubbed necessary, and what was the reason for the scrub, and was it necessary in your mind. or was this a scrub out of an a bun dance of caution. >> i hear where you're going. nasa is very, very cautious. that's why it takes a long time and costs a lot of money. yesterday was a cass said of things. first there was a ship that was in a place it wasn't supposed to be. and then there was wind and then there were plumbing problems that look simple from a distance but up close there is a whole lot of plumbing, and a lot of things that need to go absolutely right. they didn't launch yesterday, they had a text book launch, a totally text book mission today. >> tell me the importance of people who should follow this. people who don't follow the importance of this as close as maybe we might. why was this mission important?

and the fact that it came off successfully important? >> it's a spaceship. we have not done deep space in 42 years. we haven't done a capsule in that form. it was very much like apollo that it was a capsule-shaped object. you need a capsule-shaped on jacket as it comes screaming down from space. the velocities are so high, and so whatever your spaceship looks like going uphill, when it comes down from deep space it will look like a capsule. it will melt to that shape. so you want to start in that shape to begin with. >> any new technologies involved in this launch today? >> lots and lots of new stuff. even though it looks like an old mission, new materials in the heat shield. the heat shield was heavily instrumented to get new data.

part of the mission was also to go up in the lower radiation belt. now earth's magnetic field traps radiation, it's a dangerous place to be. you don't want to spend a long time there. but they needed to know what the capsule would do going through the van allen belt, and then going back through it. they had to shut down the cameras when it went through the belt: the mission can be a great success. go to mars, but if the parachutes don't work, it can be a really bad day. everythingent textbook perfect today. >> is this one of those private-public partnerships that we're seeing here, is this completely nasa mission. >> this is a complete nasa mission, which is why it's s so expensive. this is a great capsule. this is a holdover from a program now canceled called.

and now that happened to be built in districts that had legacy parts. it's not really the new private-public partnerships that you hear about. this is an old model. there may be private industries who build similar things perhaps for less cost. >> do you expect the money from this project to continue to be there? does it hold enough promise for there to be enough political will and public support to finance this project moving forward? >> yes, for a space geek like me, absolutely. for a normal, regular person who is more sane than i am and not crazy about this space stuff,

probably not. this thing could be as much as $60 billion before it does anything significant. let's look at the timeline. not only the burn rate but the timeline. in celebration of today's mission conceived a child tonight, that kid would be in the third grade before this thing flies with a person on it, and they're going to be in college or grad school before we actually go to some place like mars. >> it's the funding priorities that are pushing at the public purse. >> it cannibalized nasa's budget for science. i would like to explore the universe with telescopes and robots, and there has to be enough budget for that. i could see that there would be a partnership who could build this for a whole lot less money. we're not doing that today. maybe we should. >> dave brody. he is a technical writer for spacecraft.com.

thank you. >> my pleasure. >> it could be a bad year for the flu. this cams from the cdc in atlanta. who also say that this year's vaccine may not be effective in fighting the virus. give us refresher course on just how the flu vaccine works. >> sure, tony. it's basically sort of a gamble on the part of cdc scientists who spend the year surveying the world for the flew that comes out. the flu mutates every year and comes out a little different than it did last year. they're constantly trying to guess what is this year's flu going to be. they have to order millions and millions of doses of the flu vaccine. once they inject you with it. your body basically sees a sneak preview of what it's likely to see in the flu season and develops antibodies that will allow it to be ready, armed for when the real flu shows up and

gets you through a counter top or another person, and then your body is ready to fight it off at that point. >> why does the vaccine's effectiveness seem to vary. something that is of particular importance this particular year? >> it's a function of the sort of gamble that cdc scientists are taking in trying to get out in front of it. sometimes they're not quite right about which fluid it's going to be. but in this case we're talking about a very bad strain of flew h 3 n 2 which seems to be drifting. when your body sees the flu in the vaccine, it creates an antibody to fight it off. but as that virus replicates itself it can drift away until pretty soon the antibody that your body is produce something not geared to fight that off. the cdc said that we're looking at 60% effectiveness.

now there is no reason not to get the flew vaccine. 60% is better than nothing. but we're looking at the flu that is a very dangerous thing. it kills as many as 50,000 people in the united states every year. it's a really big deal when they don't get it right. this is not the best year for the cdc in being sort of right on with the flu, but it has to do with how the flew works than how the cdc ordered. >> jake ward for us. thank you. a new op-ed entitled we must stop police abuse of black men. there are real questions about mistrust between the police and the black community. we'll talk to a former police officer, and we'll ask him why train something a big part of the problem. presidential contender rand paul raising eyebrows about the

conflict. that's with david shuster.

>> new york city is preparing for more protest tonight as the city vents anger over the death of an unarmed black man. a grand jury decision not to indict the police officer who put eric garner in a chokehold has prompted nationwide demonstrations. garner's case is is what many see as a pattern of police abuse against black men. i spoke with a man who joined the police force but before that he had been captured and beaten by the police. i asked him why he wanted to become a cop. >> there was a pronounce

shooting here. he was shot b a man was shot by police officers while he was going through an epileptic seizure. knowing what police officers have done to young people. i took the opportunity. i decided i could not hold this within. i needed to join the commitment and make changes inside the department. it was my mission. and in mantra that i picked up in 1984, and i carried it through my entire career through 24 years. >> i asked if the special prosecutor should be assigned to police-involved shooting cases. have a listen to what was said about this, and then i have a question for. >> you definitely need to have more transparency, and the

public needs to understand without controversy that prosecutors can, in fact, get a ham sandwich indicted if they want to. if a prosecutor can't get an indictment in a case like this particular one in new york, or even the one in ferguson, it's politics. prosecutors are comfortable with the people they represent, who are the people in the area of where they are. it's all a very political process in a case like this. >> and borough president adams you would go further, wouldn't you. you would convene a special grand jury to take on cases of police-involved shootings? >> yes, and i think she's correct about having a special prosecutor. but we need to go even deeper. whenever there is an incident where there is a police involv involved, and a person loses his

or her life, you can't have the police agency that's involved in the questionable action also gathering the evidence because the evidence that's gathered in the initial contact is the evidence that is going to set the tone for the entire review of what the officer did. and so that is an important piece. >> you would have a different investigative body collecting the evidence from a police-involved shooting that resulted in death? >> right. you can't have the nypd crime scene unit or the chicago pd crime scene unit to collect evidence to determine what happened at a scene. >> would you have been in favor of wearing a body camera when you were an officer? >> without a doubt. i knew a camera would exonerate

me if anyone made any allegations. people cannot continue to say they support stop and frisk. iif a police officer is not doing anything wrong they should not be afraid to wear a camera to show that they're following procedures. >> were you surprised that the grand jury did not bring back an indictment in this case? >> no, not at all. it is a very challenging place when it comes down to taking aggressive steps towards reform. i believe that although people would like to take the position that politics is not in these decisions, politics is very much part of the life in the grand jury process. i thought it was extremely difficult for a grand jury to make a determination. >> adams wrote about his experiences with police in

yesterday's "new york times." now critics have been pushing for police to wear body cameras. and one city is already ahead of the curve. john hejohn herndon reports. >> reporter: it cost more than $3,000 to turn 100 officers into walking recording machines. when a shooting in ferguson set off national protests, that sounded cheap. >> i don't know if there is law enforcement officer or administrativ administrator didn't say, gee, if only they were wearing a body cam. to see what they actually said and what they actually did, that's always going to be a good

thing. when we screw up we should be held accountable. >> reporter: now major metropolitan police departments in los angeles, washington, d.c. and new york are introducing pilot programs of their own. >> we're dealing with a lot of unexemployered territory on this issue that the public, i don't think, you in the media, and we in the police provision, and the courts for that matter don't fully understand. we're all going to learn together. >> reporter: in the fog of post ferguson protests it's a rare point in which the police and civil libertarians agree--mostly. >> if there is a shooting, evidence of a crime, and if that video should be releasable, but all other videos should not see the light of day because it raises too many privacy questions. >> reporter: sometimes having a video does not leave all sides satisfied. and in the new york case of eric garner officers were not charged with choking him to death, despite this video. officers serving warrants can

wear the cameras made by the same company that made the non-lethal taser devices on their chest, lapels or on their heads. >> there are over a hundred cameras at this booking facility. 44 deputies are wearing body cameras that report every interaction with every inmate. many law enforcement officers fearing career-damaging charges of excessive force welcome the added scrutiny. >> it took a little getting used to, but it keeps the inmates accountable for what they do as well as the deputies. >> is there a down side? >> not to us, no there is no down side. >> as ferguson police know too well, there is no limit to the down side of not knowing what happened. >> a second investigation into a politically motivated traffic jam in new jersey has found no evidence that governor chris

christie was involved. he visited parliament durin today. they say they were untieable interview several witness who is could have provided more information to the governor's possible roll. republicans appear to be on the cusp of expanding the major in a run off election in louisiana. >> reporter: towns are hoping to cap this election year with another big senate win. republican congressman bill cassidy is running against democrat mary landrieu. her campaigns unfold at the beginning of a radio interview. >> mary landrieu. miss mary, thank you for joining us. >> thank you. i'm sorry i want on before.

>> we've been asking weekly for six months. >> i'm so sorry. >> that's okay. >> that ithat is actually not okay. if cassidy wins, he'll be the ninth republican this year to capture a previously held democratic senate seat. presidential politics kentucky senator rand paul was building a campaign operation causing controversy with his comments about the eric garner case. >> i think it's also important to know that some politician put a tax of $5.85 on a pack of cigarettes, so making them so expensive. then some politician had to direct the police to say, we want you arresting people for selling a loose cigarette. >> it's just as important to talk about cigarette faxes as a

police chokehold? cue the daily show jon stewart. >> what the [bleep] are you talking about? >> that message got through to senator rand paul because the next day he did another interview and tried a do over. >> this was in the daylight. they outnumbered him 5-1. i think there was a better way than holding him in a chokehold. >> thank you. on the democratic side 2016 presidential frontrunner hillary clinton has spoken out about the garner case. >> i'm very pleased that the department of justice will be investigating what happened in ferguson or staten island. those families and those communities and our country deserve a full and fair accounting. >> she was very careful and deliberate in what she said. but at that same event in an unguarded moment she addressed the challenges of the presidency. >> it is such a hard job.

you need people starting in your family, but going to your friends beyond a larger circle, who will really be there for you and continue to treat you like a human being. >> friends say she's thinking about these issues very deeply now, a decision on her candidacy is expected as early as next month. clinton met in the oval office with president obama. aides say they spoke with a range of issues but would not provide details. it was a courtesy call in which she told the president she would be distancing herself from him and his policies next year. president obama has been working on the state of the union speech he will give. some have been urging john boehner not to invite the president to deliver the speech. here is boehner's view.

>> the more the president talks about his ideas the more unpopular he becomes. why would i want to deprive him of that opportunity. >> speaking of opportunities, the white house is now promoting a video that shows the making of a bust of president obama. the very first bust produced by a 3d printer. the president sat in front of 50 custom built led lights, and six wide angle cameras. >> this is an artistic likeness of the president, this is actually millions upon millions of measurement that is create a 3d likeness of the president that we can now 3d print and make something that has never been done before. >> interesting stuff given that the white house did not allow us to hear mr. obama's voice in the video, it's hard to know if his reaction was negative. back to hillary clinton. the group ready for hillary 2016 has just released a music video. we pick it up right before the

refrain. >> she's the mother, daughter, and a loving wife. tony, some people are described this as a cringe worthy and thought it was a parody. it's not. >> it's not. >> that is today's power politics. you have to memories those requir lyrics. >> i'm moved. moved to what--let's take a look at other stories making headlines across america today. roxana saberi is here with that for us.

>> reporter: tony, police in kansas are investigating the death of a somali teen as a possible hate time. he was hit outside of a somali community center. the man was arrested after he tried to run away. the names of the suspect and victim has not been released. adam lanza killed his mother in this house before going to the school where he killed 26 people. the house is valued at $500,000, but no one wants it. a decision will be made about the home. several days of rain trigg triggered flash flooding and mudslides. stranding more than thro three dozen people in their cars. nearly all of california remains in a drought. and the battle is on in

washington state against crows who have taken over a town. look at this video. once night false the crows fill the skies over sunny side and when day breaks nasty evidence is everywhere. >> it comes a problem, a nuisance for the citizens because it leaves waste on the sidewalks, homes, cars. >> officers are firing non-lethal noise makers in the air in the hopes of eventually scaring the crows away. they've had this problem for a while. the officers used to shoot the birds. >> no, no, they did? they would shoot them. >> but the period the birds are still coming back. >> are you done? >> i'll be back at 6:00. >> thank you. people buying a gun in washington state now have to pass a background check with almost every purchase. but the new law has buyers and sellers a bit confused about how

exactly it works. >> reporter: a custom-made short-barreled semi-automatic rifle. it was supposed to be a gift. >> an amazing under the tree--but i can't do that. >> under the new law that gift to his girlfriend could be considered a firearms transfer illegal without a criminal background check through a licensed gun dealer. in this house a frustration. >> i would love for politicians and lawmakers to focus on folks who are breaking the law in the first place and stop going after people like me. >> reporter: the law extends to all gun shows and online sales. but it could make handing a gun to a friend to hoot at a range like this one an illegal. and it could mak create

problems for businesses. >> gun ranges check guns out, and now private investigators and bailed recovery agents are wondering if the way they've been doing business all along is a string of felonies. >> gun range manager brett bass said that his rental business probably won't be affected. he supports the concept of background checks for sales. >> if yoi think it's a safe and reasonable precaution. >> but what he's hearing from customers is confusion about what they can and can't do without breaking the law. >> it's the transfers. there is ambiguity on that, that's what upsets the majority of people in this community. >> reporter: some call those concern about gun transfers nonsense, just smoke screens and

said that they're not going to bother are gift rifles. >> to bring up this issue to get away from the main point. the main point is this an important first step to keep guns out of the hands of those who should not have guns. >> reporter: but that's very comfort for those who key gun ownership a recreation and constitution rights. >> i have not met maybe lawyers who make mistakes that big. it's going to be accurate, hard to break, and plus it's pink. >> reporter: it is pink. >> still to come, the philippines packing days of big weather that comes one year after a catastrophic storm hit the area.

>> kenya's president said he's vindicated by the international criminal court's decision t of

crimes. however, he could be charge again if new evidence emerges. china's highest ranking communist official to be arrested in throw decades. he was one of their most powerful members. last year's typhoon killed more than 6,000 people. a new storm is expected to hit late tomorrow. rebecca stevenson joins us with the storm and it's bath. >> meteorologist: yes, we watch this one closely because it will

have such an impact on these towns that are still in some places trying to recover. the places they're trying to recover. those are the exact same areas that will be hit. even if they're not in the path. this is a super ti typhoon equivalent to a ca category 4 hurricane. the p path is near manila and the impact will be those outlying areas. the wave heights caused by wind are now at 45 feet. you can see the outer bands are already impacting the areas bringing in heavy rainfall. the rain amounts are going to get so heavy we're expecting totals of 6 to 12 inches. that will be strai catastrophic

with the waves that will hit the shores. and again, the hardest-hit areas, the most rainfall we're expecting to be probably most likely between nag a and tacloban. they will be dealing with winds, mudslides because of all that rain. >> rebecca. thank you. today, "techknow's" phil torrez put himself in a submarine and went to the bottom of the pacific ocean. his report on why screen assists say this could help find life on other planets. >> hello, i'm ray suarez. the temporary protections offered to millions here illegally have riled congressional republicans. now 17 states are taking th

them to court over it all. power play or just politics. we'll hope the case live at the top of the hour. only on al jazeera america

on tech know, >> i landed head first at 120 mph >> a shocking new way to treat brain injuries >> transcranial direct stimulation... don't try this at home... >> but some people are... >> it's not too much that we'ed fry any important brain parts... >> before you flip the switch, get the facts... >> to say that passing a low level of current is automatically safe, is not true >> every saturday, go where technology meets humanity...

>> sharks like affection >> tech know, only on al jazeera america >> publish reports say hackers obtained then leaked social security numbers, salaries, and other personal information for thousands of current and former employees, including some hollywood stars. sony suspects that north korea may be behind the attack because of the movie about kim jong-un. scientists believe one way to determine if there is life on other planets is to study this

planet's oceans. "techknow's" phil torres is in the pacific association on board alvin, the same sub that once dove to where the titanic sank in the atlantic. phil is part of a research mission. earlier i spoke with phil on an one-way radio call. it's a bit like what you see in the movies. you're going to hear the word "over" a lot. i asked phil what part of the ocean he's studying. >> we are 2,990 meters below. and it is pretty amazing down here. we're next to a place where the pressures outside of the sub are literally crushing.

we're at depths where humans can go, over. >> whoa, tell me more about what it is like down there, and what do you see, over? >> it is absolutely amazing, but it is also cold. we are seeing some incredible landscape. it looks like a world i've never seen. there are octopus everywhere. there are amazing coral. there is water where it gets warmer. over. >> my understanding, phil, you are down there as part of a science mission. can you explain what that mission is all about? over. >> yes, we are. it is beautiful down here, but there is a lot of science to be done. the researchers are studying the chemistry and life of what is here, and they're trying to understand how the flows effect our oceans, and they do in a big way. these environments help to keep

the development of life that looks like another planet, over. >> so what exactly is alvin. how big is it, and who are you with, over? >> tony, alvin is a deep sea submersible. we can go pretty far down in the ocean. right now it's a six-foot titanium fear with two other gentlemen. they have done many dives, so i'm definitely in good hands, over. >> phil, last question from me, how long are you going to be down there? over. >> we'll be down here for up to 72 hours. on this mission we only need to be here for a few hours at a time. if all goes as planned we'll be back to the surface later today. >> that's terrific stuff. good, good stuff.

so the entire story of phil's soy advantage to the bottom of the sea will air in february. but you can check it out every saturday at 7:30 eastern time. that's the end of our time. "inside story" is next, over. . >> the house of representatives has set up a roadblock to the president's immigration policies passing a law requiring him to cease and desist, and 17 states are suing him. symbolism or substance. it's inside story.