the increases and the loss will catch up with the gains that are taking place probably in 20 or 30 years. >> more analysis and video on demand everything we're covering right there. www.aljazeera.com. >> mechanical failure or intentional act? investigators trying to figure out just what brought down a russian jet over the skies of egypt. bias in the jury box. the supreme court considers a case that could effect hundreds of criminal prosecutions. plus seattle votes are deciding on an unique to fund campaigns but some advocates are crying foul.

>> this is al jazeera america live in new york city. i'm del walters. u.s. officials now weighing in on the crash of that russian passenger plane over the skies of egypt. speaking in washington this morning at a defense conference james clapper of the director of national intelligence saying there is nothing yet to show that it was intentionally brought down. although they're not ruling it out. >> well, we don't have any direct evidence of any terrorist involvement yet, but we really don't know, and i think once the black box has been analyzed and recovered and perhaps we'll know more. >> comments coming after the airline itself metro jet said the only explanation for the crash is external impact. they're ruling out technical issues or pilot error.

>> i can tell you with absolute confidence those repairs from a few years ago have nothing to do with what happened to this plane. >> all 224 passengers and crew on board the plane died including children and newlyweds. peter sharp is in st. petersburg, russia, with more. >> russian investigators have been recovering body following the crash on saturday and overnight an aircraft from cairo brought back 144 of the victims. now they'll be taken from the airport here to a special purpose-built mortuary north of the city, where they'll be matched with dna samples taken from their families. and that should result in positive identification of the bodies. meanwhile, the investigation into the crash goes on, but it's going to be some time. possibly months before they come up with anything definitive.

what we do know is that this aircraft broke up at very high altitudes, possibly around 30,000 feet from some catastrophic effect, and the whole area of debris stretches over 20 square kilometers and they're still searching that at the moment. >> that's peter sharp reporting for us from st. petersburg, russia. germany's lufthansa, and air france will halt flight over that area. >> the black box, as we understand it, have been obtained by the investigators, and are on their way to moscow for read out. it does appear that this was a result of some sort of internal event possibly a center fuel

tank explosion or the possibility of some sort of bomb or device that had been placed on the aircraft. but certainly a sad event, and i feel great remorse for our friends in russia. >> so from what you're saying and what you're seeing so far it is possible in your opinion that there might have been a bomb or some type of explosive device introduced inside the plane that a terrorist group would take responsibility for? >> well, that certainly can't be ruled out at this point. although the plane had some mechanical problems with the previous owner, so both of these investigations, both the criminal investigation as well as the civil investigation have got to proceed. but with the black box information if the russian government permits the investigators to be forthcoming, we ought to know the cause of

this accident--this event, this tragic event very soon. >> hall also said the first results of early analysis should be available within 72 hours. investigators this morning launching a remote sub off the coast of the bahamas they want to investigate wreckage they think is from that missing cargo ship that sunk during hurricane joaquin last month. the ship owner filing a lawsuit trying to block any further legal action from the families of the crews. four have sued the company. there is a developing story coming out of the vatican. two members of the cat van commission including a priest has been arrested saying that they have leagued--they have leaked confidential information to the media. the va vatican will visit mexico in february. 80% of mexico is catholic.

19 bodies from recovered off the greek islands. 60 refugees, half of them children, dying trying to reach greece from neighboring turkey over the past five days. gerald tan has more. >> biting wind and choppy waters as the european winter sets in. these boats almost didn't make it. after perilous journey across the aegean sea the authorities arrive on the greek island of lesbos. >> there were lee boats come--three boats coming, and they were low in the water. i guess they were sinking, and they were getting hit by the waves in. >> crews removed several bodies that washed up overnight grim reminders of what is at stake for those trying to escape conflict at home. europe is struggling to cope with this refugee crisis many

hoping to reach jeremy, which has opened its doors to hem. >> i have heard from many friends who went there, and they always tell us that there are good people, good services. >> to get there, they have to pass through several eastern european countries. croatia wants to speed up the process of registering those crossing its border. the government is set to unveil a new winter camp this week. >> this is a place which is now totally created with everything that we need from showers, tents, heated tents, containers for the groups. and we are not expecting problems from this position. capacity is 5,000 people in one moment. >> from croatia these people will likely go northamption t north to slovenia and then

austria to germany. at each stop they face more difficulties. for the country that circumstance numbers more than double they faced than previous years. for the refugees, it's about doing whatever it takes for a chance at a new life. gerald tan, al jazeera. >> republican presidential candidates making new demands before their next debate representatives from their campaigns meeting sunday night. they say they want mandatory opening and closing statements and control over on screen graphics. some are upset how some candidates were treated in the last week debate. political correspondent michael shure said that the candidates want to shut out the rnc. >> just outside of washington, d.c. an old town alexandria, virginia, the campaigns of the g.o.p. have met to discuss changing the debate format, the types of questions and some of the networks that carry the debate. a lot of these meetings were called because of the candidates themselves. the campaigns of trump and

carson, the campaigns of paul and huckabee and cruz were involved, so were the campaigns of santorum, graham, and bobby jindal. candidates who were at the smaller table, what people call the kiddie table for these debates. they want to get on the main stage. they're suggesting two debates each day with seven ran demeanorly chosen, which gives them a chance to be part of bigger picture. the question is whether nbc will get to host a debate taken from them by the g.o.p. by the rnc last week in a letter sent by reince priebus who said we will not have a debate with you. it was not saying that it was off the table, but however that debate involved telemundo, the spanish broadcaster. don't trump said that we will not bring them in and veto any

effort to do that, but other republicans believe that would be wise to include them. ththey brought in their coo and chief legal counsel to now run the debates hoping that makes for better conversation between the party and candidates. that remains to be seen. >> that's michael shure for us in los angeles. the rnc yet to respond to the demands from sunday's meetings. when we come back, tackling racial bias in the courtroom. the case that is at the center of the legal battle that will take center stage at supreme court. and it's election eve. we take a look at the measure in seattle that could restrict big money in local politics.

>> there are reports coming out of syria that relevance are using their pows or prisoners of war as human shields. >> they're high ranking officers so they can have a taste of our misery an they can be targeted by russian airstrikes as are our women and children. >> the video appears to show men and women in iron cages. they were driven to areas near damascus to be used as human shields during government air raids. they're captured by rebels.

dealing with bias in the courtroom and whether the way the jury is selected changes the outcome. >> according to prosecutors, timothy foster broke into the home of a 79-year-old while mo white woman. they say he broke her jaw, sexually assaulted her, coated her with talcum powder and choked her to death. >> he wadeath. >> he has been on georgia's death row. now the nation's highest court will decide whether prosecutors intentionally kept blacks off the jury. now foster's attorneys used an open record request in 2006 to eden out what prosecutors had on

their jury selection notes. what was discovered is startling. the trial prosecutor wrote the letter "b" next to the names of prospective black jurors. the names were highlighted in green, and the list was made of people that the prosecutor did not want on the jury. all of those people were black. >> no one else, they did not highlight anyone but th the black jurors with the green highlighter. they did not mark "w" next the white jurors names. >> rejecting a certain number of potential jurors without stating a reason is legal. foster's case is unique. >> have you ever heard of a prosecutor in a jury selection in their notes marking a "b" for black? >> i personally are never heard that have among the prosecutors that i worked with and the prosecutors i've interviewed, i've never seen or heard that have practice. >> have you seen or heard of racial bias in all of your time of practicing?

>> yes. >> the state of georgia said that the jury selection was not racially motived or biased. the naacp said that is not true. >> the prosecutor said that a black perspective juror they excused because that perspective juror's age was too close to the age of the defendant in this case. but they seated white prospe prospertive jurors who were closer to the defendant's age. >> if you look at a jury, and it's all white people and there is a hispanic or black or asian who is the defendant, how can they say we've got a problem here? >> that's what the opposing party always says. look, we have an all white jury or an all black jury that i has a community that is diversed. in this process we have the

objection. we have the race-neutral explanation and the judge who is supposed to weigh the credibility of that race-new traditiona-neutral explanation. >> but it does not work that way. many hesitate to challenge a well-known prosecutor. >> prosecutors and defense attorneys are always trying to think about who are their perfect jurors and who are the jurors they're going to be perfect for the other side. >> that sounds illegal. >> that's the base of the challenge. some say we should get rid of the whole system because it's challenges for cause are about people who have scheduling conflicts or health conflicts. >> not the color of their skin. >> not the color of their skin or not their gender. gender has been decided as a prohibitive category. >> rarely does the supreme court take on a case where there is no abstract decision to be decided. timothy foster needs five to rule in his favor to grant race

discrimination in his situation. >> problem is ohis. >> president obama is on his way to new jersey to address crime and punishment. part of the effort will include federal education grants to help train and place former inmates in technology jobs. in seattle voters tomorrow decide on a type of campaign finance reform. it could lead to a voucher system giving voters the chance to support their favorite candidate with cash. the proposal has drawn a lot of interest from around the country. >> as i 121 backers knock on doors to draw support for their initiative, this campaign leader calls it exciting. >> people are looking at seattle because we're doing something different. we're adding a new tool to the toolbox so across the country we can fight the issue of big money in politics.

>> opponents say that seattle's campaign and election laws are well drawn and strict already, and administering the new restriction would be too expensive. >> i don't want seattle to be the begi guinea pig for someone on the east coast to make a point. >> to get the money candidates would have to agree to new campaign fundraising and campaign spending limits, and for candidates participation would be voluntary. >> the vouchers would provide $6 million in potential funding every two years. the no side said that the system would favor incumbents and established political groups, and could hurt candidates who get in the race late. >> what is likely to happen on january 2nd is people who are well organized, incumbents,

special interests will scoop those vouchers up. >> as for spending on the voucher campaign itself on the no side less than $50,000 total has been reported. nearly all of it raised from corporate donors. much of the $1.3 million raised for the yes side has come from just a few big donations from individuals and non-profits outside of seattle. making this a big-money campaign for an anti-big money concept. >> because in this race our opponents are exclusively corporations. those are the only people who are supporting the opposition campaign. >> by my math you're outspending them 30-1. >> yes, and the fact of the matter is we've got a ton of support, and thousands of endorsers. >> it's funded by 501 c corporations who don't disclose their donors. we have ten donors who have donated to this campaign.

an unprecedented out of state and dark money. >> but for these volunteers it's a chance to try something new citywide, and supporters say they've heard from groups across the country who want to do the same thing. >> what this does is it sets the floor for political voice so everyone has an opportunity to be a downer. >> the voucher system would be funded by a ten-year $30 million hike in poverty taxes. adam shall letteradam schauffler, seattle. >> some people say that robots are costing them their jobs. like this. >> we made a promise to these heroes... this is one promise americans

need to keep.

>> gaining that extra hour of sleep this weekend could come at a cost. there is new research that shows less daylight can lead to more crime. it's an reason to keep the clocks where we are. >> when the clocks rolled back this weekend most americans gained an hour of sleep, and criminals gained more time to carry out more crime. the study from the brookings institution found that when daylight saving begins in the spring, robbery rates go down by 7% for the entire day.

and 27% during the evening hours which is when most crimes tend to occur. daylight saving was set up in the '70s to conserve energy and give farmers an extra hour of sunlight. congress extended daylight savings by three weeks in the spring and one in the fall. that saved $59 million a year in social cost by reducing the number of evening ribs. the longer daylight does not just impact crime, but on the roadway. >> one hour on the road between this and this. >> and all the back and forth with clocks each year can have a negative health impact on the body especially when the hour jumps ahead in the spring. there is one argument in changing the clocks in the fall made by parents. they argue it's safer for children to have more daylight in the morning as they wait for

the school bus. >> the 2015 world champions snap. >> the kansas city royals are a baseball champions. they came from behind to win, they tied the game in the ninth and eventually going on to win it all in the 12th. the final score, 7-2. the victory especially sweet last year they lost the world series in seven games and in kansas city as you might expect thousands of fans celebrating the championship overnight. they've been waiting to do so for decades. their last world series title coming in 1985, and the party continues tomorrow with a para parade. a san francisco restaurant is giving its restaurant a glimpse of the future. robots playing a role in every part of the process but that could threaten human jobs. [ protesting we are the

workers ] >> as workers demind higher wages, in san francisco the future of fast food is here and it's ott automatic. the robot is the order taker, cashier and serve: there is no visible staff other than a loan concierge to help the technically challenged. >> it's all about delivering delicious food that is highly nutritious at a fast pace and affordable price point. >> it has brought automation and a touch of curiosity to dining and it's touching every aspect of our lives and it's changing the way we live and work. google has its self-driving car. daimler is developing it's 18-wheelers on the roadways from coffee to snow cones, propane even ipads.

>> automated retailing is all about instant gratification. it's in stock, it's in the machine. it tells you right away. we can make a machine to do anything you want to do. we've done hundreds of vending machines. robots have replaced many manufacturing and service jobs but now they pose a threat to white-collar workers. >> robots, software and machines will replace workers. there is no doubt about that. we're seeing research into areas creative machines, algorithms that can create new things and create new designs that can write simila some music. >> i'm talking about dramatic changes with self-driving cars, it will wipe out the taxi

industry, and then the manufacturing industry. >> one growth industry for workers, he said, will be repairing machines. john hedron, al jazeera, san francisco. >> the 15th anniversary of the international space station. the iss is the largest and most complex space capsule built ever to orbit earth. it has botany to manufacturing in space since it's launch 15 years ago there have been 87,600 revolutions around the plant. 220 people have different nations have lived on board and 15 nations continue to operate it today. and you've never seen the sun quite like this before. a blaze with light and energy nasa just unveiling images of the sun taken by high-res cameras that are eight times sharper than hd. a team of scientists working ten hours to create one minute of those images showing the grand force of our universe. thanks for joining us. i'm del walters from new york.

our news continues live from london. >> this is al jazeera. >> hello i'm maryanne nemazee. ruling akp party has a stunning victory. and mourners in st. petersburg, an investigation of what caused