thermostat, remember it's not just us that we're deciding for. i'm ray suarez, and that's the "inside story." >> this is aljazeera america, live from new york city, i'm tony harris. ron immanuel replaces chicago's top cop. and special ops. and the delayed response, why it's taking new orleans police so long to answer 9-1-1 calls, and women in saudi arabia are running for public office.

and we begin in chicago where the superintendent of the police department has been fired. for the past week, hundreds of people have been on the streets, calling for gary mccarthy to go. and today, the mayor answered those calls. critics of his leadership are angry that it took more than a year for white police officers to be charged with murder of a shooting death of a black teenager. the community leaders want it gone as well. diane eastabrook has more on this now. >> reporter: tony, this really was a bombshell announcement today, because the mayor had been very supportive of mccarthy, but the calls for his removal had just gotten way too intense. chicago mayor, rob immanuel held a news conference that he fired gary mccarthy because he had become a distraction.

>> i have a loyalty to what he has done, but a bigger loyalty to the city of chicago. >> reporter: but hours later, he told a local reporter that he had no plans to leave his job. >> i'm not going to give up on the chicago police department and i'm not going to go anywhere. over his handling of the fatal police shooting last year of laquan mcdonald. last week, the video showing the 17-year-old black taken running done the street, being shot 16 times. aljazeera is freezing the video after the first shot. he was charged with first-degree murder and out on bond. since then, the protesters have taken to the chicago streets, protesting over how long it took to release the video, and

charge van dyke. even with the backlash, statements for mccarthy, until now. one said that the superintendent is not the only one who needs to be held accountable. >> what if this administration, not the police administration, what and they know and when? >> >> reporter: mayor emanuel said that they will review possible changes in the department. and he deflected changes about stepping down as well. >> i think that i do my job and try to do it every day and in a professional way. >> reporter: that wasn't good enough for protesters outside of the mayor's office. they demanded more accountability from the city and the an independent auditor to oversee the police department. >> what's missing here, the mayor is not accountable to anyone, and what we're suggesting with the police auditor ordinance, there would

be someone who had the pair outside of mayor's office to look at policing. >> reporter: now, late this afternoon, the illinois attorney general asked the department of justice to investigate the chicago police department. and that's in addition to a separate investigation that the oj is going in the way that the police department handled the mcdonald shooting. >> well, the laquan mcdonald shooting is not an isolated incident. and i understand that there are other cases starting to get attention now. >> reporter: that's right, and this afternoon, the mother of another man, 25-year-old ronald johnson, asked for the release of dash cam video taken of her son. he was shot about a week before mcdonald was shot last year. the police claim that he turned a gun on them. and the family says that the video that they saw does not support that. and they want that video released to the public. >> all right, diane eastabrook,

thank you. and protesters say that it's not that officials convict done anything, but it's how long they waited. let's look at how this played out. on october 20th, 2014, laquan mcdonald was shot and killed. and two months later, the chicago council agreed to pay the mcdonald family a $5 million settlement and then another seven months passed before van dyke was charged with first-degree murder. the dash cam video was released and the protests haven't stopped. and then the superintendent was asked to resign. coming up, i'll ask the mayor of chicago a few things, if the mayor has done enough by firing the head of the police department. last year's killing of tamir rice. rice was shot to death while playing with a toy gun. and today, the prosecutors released their it statements

with their versions of what happened. bisi onile-ere has taken a look, and bisi, do we learn anything new from these statements? >> reporter: well, tony, instead of testifying in front of a grand jury, officers timothy loman provided statements given what happened during the time that tamir rice was shot and killed outside of a recreation center last year. in both statements, it appeared that the 12-year-old was pulling out a handgun at the time that loman fired his shots. >> reporter: you to look at one of the statements, this is from officer loman, and it reads in part, i observed the suspect pulling the gun out of his waistband with the gun coming up, and we were yelling, show me your hands. with his hands coming up and his elbow, i knew it was a gun coming out and i saw the weapon and his hands coming out of his waistband and the threat to my

partner and myself was real and active. i fired two shots. and officer garn back >> both officers would eventually go to to learn that the gun they thought was real was a pellet gun, and the grand jury reviews the case. >> hey, bisi, has the rice family responded to the officer's statements?

statements. >> we have yet to hear from the family, but we have heard from the team of lawyers, who say that the officer's statements in no way show that the conduct to tamir rice was unreasonable or unjustified. giving sworn statements to the grand jury, rather appearing live so they can be questioned by the grand jury, suggesting that the officers know their story would not withstand real scrutiny. over the past year, the rice family has criticized the investigation into tamir rice's death, saying that it's biased, and the family has called on the lead prosecutor to step down, which has not been done just yet. >> and bisi, how long before the grand jury reaches a decision here? >> reporter: well, tony, the grand jury started looking at the case in october.

and they have gone over a lot of evidence, and they have even gone back to the scene of where the shooting took place, and yesterday they heard from tamir rice's mother. i'm told that it could be days and possibly a week before the grand jury comes up. >> all right, bisi, thank you. and the pentagon is putting more boots on the ground to battle isil in iraq and syria, and ashe carter said that the new marching orders won't apply to regular soldiers, just operations troops. and jamie mcintyre is at the pentagon to explain. >> well, tony, the u.s. already has 3500 troops in iraq, special commandos that have conducted raids against isiling targets in iraq and syria, but after october where the raid in which the u.s. assisted kurdish troops in iraq, being secretary carter said that there would be more

raids and sending in more troops is an effort to make good on that promise. >> we're at war. >> in more than three hours of testimony before the house armed services committee. defense secretary, ashe carter and joseph dunford faced predictably sceptical questions. >> are we winning, mr. secretary? >> reporter: are we winning now? >> we're going to win >> reporter: have we currently contained isil? >> we have not contained isil. >> both democrats and republicans seemed dissatisfied with the pentagon talking points, but they're making progress, and gaining momentum. >> i can climb down from here and say that i'm making progress, and if i run the next 15 feet, i'm gaining momentum. >> reporter: one wrinkle to the plan, something that he called a special expeditionary

targeting force, to be based in erbil, iraq, to conduct raids in both iraq and syria. sometimes jointly with the iraqi forces and sometimes unilaterally. with a mission to free hostages, gather intelligence, and capture ills ill leaders. >> it takes what we're good at. at possibility and the long reach, which nobody else has. and it puts everybody on notice in syria, you don't know at night who is going to be coming in the window. >> reporter: it could create a snowball effect, and get more locals to join in the fight. >> they exist, and they're hard to find. and we're going to try to get more. >> reporter: they destroyed 400 fuel trucks, as evidence that the air campaign was pickinpicking up.

a squad run commander was incredulous that the trucks were not among the targets hit when they first started. >> you mentioned a snowball effect, and the mobile has been going in their direction for the last 15 months. >> reporter: the special troops to syria, announced last month, but the new troops going to iraq won't get there any time soon. and in fact, the pentagon sources say that no deployment letters have been signed and no units are ready to go. >> all right, jimmy, thank you. and coming up, a former officer in the army's special forces gives us his take on the evolve tragedy to fight isil. nato allies are moving ahead with plans to strengthen forces with the downing of a fighter jet. and including more ships, planes and missile defense systems, but in germany, removing their patriot missiles

from germany. people were injured in a pipe bomb blast. it happened at a metro it station in the evening rush hour. interrupting some train service. turkey has been on high alert since two people were killed by suicide bombing attacks in october. president obama returned from his trip to the paris summit. and he landed in the united states not too long ago. and he brings with him a feeling of optimism from the leaders in the world and france, but not everyone agrees. >> reporter: after two days in paris, president obama has come to a sweeping conclusion on climate change. >> i actually think that we're going to solve this. >> reporter: the reason for his optimism, pledges from the nearly 200 nations at the summit to reduce output. and while he agrees with the scientific consensus, it would fall short of catastrophic

consequences, and the president thinks that there's reason now to hope. >> . >> approach the problem, and then we can successively turn up the dials as new sources of energy become available. >> reporter: mr. obama said that portions of the agreement should be legally binding, and at the same time, what emerges from paris will not be in the form of a treaty. that's a non-it starter. house speaker, pauline paul ryad that it's between emissions and american jobs. >> when you combine the be obligations, they don't add up. it's very clear. >> but a new cbs poll, 2/3 of americans support a binding agreement to curb greenhouse gas emissions, but conservatives are adamantly

opposed. >> this is another example of a president that's not only out of touch, but out of control. he has lost his vision of what will keep america great and strong. >> this week, the house of representatives is expected to reject epa restrictions on coal power plants. inunidation if warming isn't slowed or stopped. and president obama said that the time for politics is over. >> that's more of a matter of the games that washington plays. that's why people should be confident that we'll meet our commitments on this. >> the commitments from the u.s. and other nations represented in paris will be next week, as the historic summit is scheduled to end. >> the smog was so thick today in beijing, the authorities were forced to close all schools. it's the fifth day in a row

that the city has seen such high levels. 16 billion tons of greenhouse emissions every year, the largest in the world. puerto rico made a it debt payment today. $354 million. and it's facing a payment los to $1 billion on january 1st, as it attempts to settle a $72 billion debt. the governor says that the possibility of default looms large. robert ray joins us from san juan, puerto rico. >> tony, so many numbers, it's hard to wrap your head around this, it has been going on for a decade, and as the governor, alejandro garcia padilla was up in washington testifying today, there were other politicians down here in puerto rico trying to make sense of it and talking to the press.

we spoke to the secretary of state outside of the capitol building in the governor's office today. we wanted to know how hard it has been on the citizens of puerto rico. >> have you been out on the streets of san juan and spoke to people and do you know how upset many of the residents are right now? you realize how much it's escalating out there? the people are mad, and they don't believe what's going on. >> we understand that, because they need action from the government. >> what about here on the islands, you guys? >> we're trying to get solutions for the people. >> reporter: the governor also in washington saying that if congress doesn't act, there will be catastrophic consequences, meaning that he wants a chapter 9 bankruptcy or

at least a path to that, but we also spoke to the head, the president of the government development bank here in puerto rico, and she's the one who signed the check, the $354 million that got transferred out of puerto rico today to the debt holders, and let's listen to what she had to say. >say. how long is all of this decision making, and gambling, in a sense, going to go on? >> the most important matter right now, we sit down and start to process it. it would be great if we have a bankruptcy structure, that would be great. and that would definitely help puerto rico, but if not, we're going to have to sit down. like the electric company did already and try to reach anagram. >> so this diverted money from future payments, limitly from money that doesn't quite exist yet next year is the issue going forward. how many times can they do

this? and how many times can the cycle keep going around, tony? >> that ends badly, i think that we know that. up next on the program, americans fighting for isil, a striking new report about how the group is recruiting here in the united states. and the police response. why officers in new orleans are taking so long to reach people who call for help?

>> a good study is shedding light on who isil is recruiting in the united states. looking at the 71 individuals arrested in the united states since march of 2014, and no single number emerged but something stood out. nearly 90% are male. 81% are u.s. citizens, and almost 3/4 of them are under the age of 30. 40% of those arrested are converts to islam. and that's nearly twice the number of americans who are muslim converts. defense secretary, ashe carter, told the house committee that the pentagon is sending more special operations troops to iraq and syria. >> we're deploying a special exx peddish ear force to assist iraqi and peshmerga forces to put more pressure on isil. these special operators will over time be able to conduct

raids, free hostages, gather intelligence and capture isil leaders. >> mitch is a retired army special forces, and he joins me from denver, and colonel, good to have you on the program. let's get your take on the isil headlines of the day. defense secretary, ashe carter, said that the u.s. will be sending in a special targeting force into syria. and first, this is clearly an escalation, correct? we have 3500 troops in iraq, and now, including special ops troops, and now we're talking about adding more? this is an escalation, clear? >> tony, i think that it is an escalation, and it is also a clarification as we know from the 2nd of october when master sergeant wheeler was killed, it's a clarification of what's already being conducted. >> so when you say a

clarification, what does that mean? >> it means that a special ex pedishly targeting force had already been on the ground in iraq in late october when the mission took place in happen wegga, iraq. >> what will this do for you? more than you just described. >> more than i just described, tony, it's another long pentagon vernacular, if you listen to the mission statement. it sounds a lot like the mission stapped generically that is given to delta force, those guys who went into pakistan to get bin laden, it sounds a lot like the mission that they were given. >> it really does. secretary carter said that part of what they will do is gather tense, and what kind of intel

is this group looking for? for. >> actionable tense to continue the targeting. a great book, in which he describes the command in iraq during the war, and that book is a really good tutorial as to what this special expedition ear force is able to do. computers, thumb drives, and paperwork and detainees that will be rapidly interrogated so other missions can follow immediately thereafter. >> can airstrikes -- we have more boots going on, but this is principally through airstrikes, and is this more special ops, and more airstrikes from better partners? is this a better strategy

moving forward? >> topi, i think that it's a refinement of the current strategy as the joint chiefs said today. with the targeting force, a special mission unit in iraq, irbil, we're going to do these started raids, but with the green berets, and the forces on the ground in syria, they're able to fight the forces in syria better, and also, when we're on the ground in the countries, the people come to us with intelligence, and that's how the special forces on the ground will be able to develop local intelligence that they can use to pass on for their targeting. >> gotch a. and last one for me, the major western powers seem to be coming together like at no other time that i can remember in the five years of this conflict. germany announcing the plans to send jets to the isil fight. and what we heard today, and

the british parliament likely to improve expanded airstrikes in syria, and why now? >> well, tony, the paris attack had a catalyzing effect on europe, especially western europe. a lot of these countries have muslim on regs, and many have not fully integrated into society. and many of them have been tracked to sirria and have returned. and especially the uk and germany, with their very publicly demonstrated desire to take the fight to isis and syria, somewhere these countries both know that they're putting themselves at greater risk for an attack from within from a sleeper cell from inside of their countries. >> mitch, appreciate it. special army forces, and lieutenant colonel joining us. thank you. up next on the program, a change at the top. why chicago's mayor fired the police superintendent.

and the crash of an air be asia jet. a combination of events that brought it down.

>> so the mayor of chicago has fired it's embattled police superintendent ever since the white police officer killing a black teenager, they called for gary mcing carthy's resignation, and today they got it. >> superintendent mccarthy

knows a police officer is only as effective as when he has the trust that of those that he serves. effective this weekend, following the protests over the mcdonald video and the arrest of laquan mcdonald's killers, we began a discussion about the direction of the department and the undeniable fact that the leadership of the department has been shaken and eroded. this morning, i formally asked for his resignation. >> okay, ken duncan, an illinois state representative whose district runs through part of chicago's south side. and thank you for joining me. >> happy to be here. >> do you feel that the police superintendent had to go? >> well, i've been asking for the superintendent's resignation since last april. april of 2014. i did an article in one of our local newspapers here, and i asked for it again in the

summertime. and here it is, it has taken this climactic experience and event for all of world to see for the mayor to finally get religion and see that this was a bad choice two years, three years in. >> i'm a little confused. so you mentioned in 2014, you thought that this superintendent was a bad idea and we should move on, but as early as april of 2015, when mayor emanuel was involved in a really tough re-election campaign, you stood with him. and crime it stats, showing a spike in shootings and homicides in chicago, did you think that mccarty was bad then? >> well, tony, i supported the mayor and the city then, but never stood with the mayor and supported mccarthy. >> can i interrupt and say, in

the same news conference, the mayor gave a vote of confidence to the superintendent? >> here's the bottom line, to hire a police superintendent. but his head rolling today took an amalgamation of brutal things in the last four years. murder and mayhem on steroids in most of the black and brown communities, and i represent a good portion of the downtown chicago and the south side. so what needs to happen, for the code of violence to be broken, when officers witness a crime of that caliber, and the laquan mcdonalds and they will

be prosecuted as well if they simply stand by and law their fellow officers to commit crimes against citizens. >> i'm really confused. do you believe that the superintendent needs to go because he was protecting bad police officers or does he need to go because he wasn't doing a good job of policing chicago? >> the superintendent has an abysmal record, from 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014, folks like myself said we have had enough. he clearly did not have a sense of clairvoyance of how it was to patrol -- >> but yet, the mayor supported him through 2014 and through 2015, up through this past weekend. if the police superintendent some go, why shouldn't his boss go? listen, you know, he may very

well go. there may be a recall with this mayor, i'm not sure. i know that anita alvarez, if she were smart, she would step down, just like the superintendent. what i'm telling you this year, earlier this year, we had a choice to make in terms of who was going to lead the city. and i felt at the time that the mayor, none of us are perfect. >> yes, because you endorsed him. >> absolutely, i d however, he had to have been convinced, not only by me, but by councilmen and other elected officials that this was a bad choice. i was one of the first to openly call for the resignation of the superintendent. that doesn't mean that the mayor is doing a completely terrible job, but his choice of a superintendent is abysmal and pit full as we see. but there's a systemic problem in the chicago police department. and now is the time for the healing to start.

and we need to be clear what the cultures are going to be, and how to restore to the public, we want to see a good job, we need the police, but at the end of the day, this superintendent failed us and the mayor failed us. >> thank you and i appreciate that i had more time with you, and thank you for being here. >> thank you. >> how quickly the police react to crimes can have a big impact on the community's safety and whether justice is served. in new orleans, police used to take 15 minutes to respond to it 9-1-1 calls, and now it usually takes them more than -- wait for this -- an hour, and some assault victims have been forced to wait days before filing a police report. many people in the city don't know if they can count on the police to show up when they need them the most.

>> this was absolute ridiculousness. >> when someone broke into his restaurant and stole the cash drawer, he chased the man while dialing 9-1-1. >> i'm seeing the alley and the dispatcher said the police have been notified and they're coming. >> but it took an hour and 15 minutes for the police to arrive. and he was told that his call unfortunately came during a shift change. >> if i had a shift change and you walked in and no one was here for an hour and 15 minutes, you would leave. >> hour-long response times have become common. it took an average of 73 minutes for the new orleans police to arrive on scene, a major increase from just four years ago. by comparison, the average dispatch time in jefferson parish, with fewer officers and calls, is just 4 minutes. the times and newspaper local

tv it station, wvue broke down response times, the most serious like homicide see a much quicker response, 8 minutes on average, but the wait for aggravated rape calls, 50 minutes on average, aggravated assault, an hour and 48 minutes, and for burglary, you could wait more than 4 hours to see the police. >> it's absolutely unacceptable. >> captain glasser is a four-year veteran and leads the police union. he said that the slow department is the result of a department that's grossly understaffed. they have just over 1100 officers today, down from 1500 five years ago. >> if you need five police officers, and you have four, and all four are tied up when the call comes out, there's no one to go. and someone is going to get short-changed. when the music stops, somebody is not going to have a chair. >> part of the issue is working

under federal oversight and the increased paperwork and the detailed procedures that come with that. and that's why he has taken the steps to decrease the number of calls that the officers respond to. >> we have to prioritize, and some of the property crimes that we're doing on the phone now and the first of the year, you'll be able to do it online. >> and staggering hours to avoid shift changes, and planning to hire more civilians to handle some paperwork. >> we want the people to have that confidence in us, and however, we want to make sure that the things that we respond to first are the life saving and the life-threatening emergencies. >> but the biggest challenge is having enough officers. the department recently increased pay and 60 hours of college credit. but the increased workload is driving many officers to quit. >> while the requirements themselves have value, and they're good things to do, they are by design very labor

intensive. >> i'm incredibly frustrated. >> he said that the police chief called him to apologize for the delayed response, but he's not convinced that things would be different if he had to call for help again. >> it's scary, it's one of those things where you absolutely do start to lose faith in the system, in the service that's you think your tax dollars should be going towards, you know? >> jonathan martin, aljazeera, new orleans. >> well, investigators say that the crash of an indonesia jet last december started with a faulty plane part. it crashed halfway through the flight, killing 162 people onboard. but now, human error was also to blame. >> reporter: more than 11 months after the crash, the investigators have revealed the final minutes of the flight. when the alarms kept going off over a small computer system,

the pilots did the unconventional decision to turn off the automatic computer protection system. and it forced the plane to fly without the computer protection, which is where all went wrong. the airbus started flying harply left and right and almost vertically. the copilot, who was flying with the captain, failed to take control in the condition. >> for the airbus, first to all pilots, to be trained with this, and the second -- basically to prevent the pilot from improvising something out. >> that's what he did? >> yes, that's what happened. >> a very serious message from investigators of the national transport commission.

piloting it getting more training to fly manually. the commission never points fingers at who is to blame for air crashes, but the message to the pilots is clear. it took them more than two months to recover only 106 of the 200 bodies from the remains of the jet at the bottom of the sea. she lost her 24-year-old son, who worked as an airasia flight attendant. his body was recovered five days after the crash. to her, the outcome of the investigation doesn't make any difference. >> i cannot blame anyone. no human being would deliberately make this kind of mistake. i'm sure that nobody wants to fail in his work. he must have done his best. >> reporter: following the accident, air buss have recovery training for their pilots. and causing the alarms to sound in the flight has been solved

in all airbus planes, and the investigators are suggesting that airasia should improve the way that it's aircraft are maintained. >> a japanese official says that 12 fishing boats have washed ashore in the last month with decomposing bodies inside. officials are not saying where they came from, but signs and remaining bits offing flags indicate that they may be have north korea. defectors say that north korean leader, kim jong un has implemented harsh fishing quotas and the people may be dying before they complete the catch. a complex deal between syrian rebels and the lebanese army. >> back in the arms of their families, 16 lebanese soldiers are freed from the front. the result of a delicate prisoner exchange which took a year to negotiate.

they were captured after fierce fighting broke out between the group and the lebanese army last year. those who helped our release, and helped the government to take the steps to negotiate the release of our comrades being held by isle >> reporter: 13 prisons, the rebel group al qaeda a. have been released by the lebanese government. in all, 13 lebanese security personnel were captured in the summer of 2013. four were executed, four died of injuries, and nine others remain in captivity. but they're being held by isil, a group which is at war with al nusra. the lebanese it government said that it's doing the best it can toker secure the release of the remaining hobstages. >> we have a big target that's a real challenge. i mean the military personnel

being captured by isil, and we need to free them. for the sake of lebanon, and for the sake of our nation. >> reporter: among those released, the former wife of isil leader, but she insists that she had nothing to do with him. >> they said that i'm the wife of al baghdadi. i've been divorced for seven years, he was not bag daddy at that time. i want to go to turkey and i want to go once i get my passport issued. i will be in beirut. and then i will go. >> reporter: meanwhile, the families of those released, some who have been kept in central beirut for months, spoke to aljazeera about their release. >> i can't believe my happiness. i thank for their safe return, and i hope that we will see them soon. their return was a dream for

us, and thank god it happened. we thank everyone who worked to secure their r >> reporter: tuesday's release will easy pressure on the lebanese government, which has come under increased criticism since the policemen were captured. and it may also boost the standing of the front, presenting them as a group of countries and governments who could potentially strike it deals with. >> up next on the program. running for office, hundreds of women in saudi arabia exercising a new right.

>> volkswagen's u.s. sales have taken a big hit following the emissions cheating scandal. they're down 2%. and it might be a deal. with the ones involved in the scandal, pass at sales were down 69% last month, and the beatle, up to 11 million were outfitted with emissions cheating software. it makes its way through the states. states are dealing with several inches of snow, ice and flooding. and kevin is here with the look at the forecast for us, and where's it heading now? >> it's beginning to die down just a little bit, but we have snow to talk about for this evening. 400 accidents in parts of minnesota just yesterday, believe it or not, and we had several deaths because of the highway incidents. the storm system is quite slow moving here, and it's not

moving too much in the north. but the snow associated with it is beginning to die down. yesterday, we were talking about winter storm warnings across. but now, looking at the video that came in across minneapolis and what the drivers had to deal with across this area. across minneapolis and some locations, it was 4-6 inches of snow, but outside of the area, we're talking about 9 plus inches across that area. real quick, i want to show you what else is ham with the same storm. we're talking about flooding down here in the southeast part of the united states, and up in the northeast, freezing rain. so very dangerous conditions >> ketch, appreciate it. and thank you. for a look at what's coming up at the top of the hour, john seigenthaler is here. >> tony, we're going to have reaction to the defense secretary's announcement that the u.s. is expanding it's use of special on regs forces in iraq and possibly syria, carter said that we're at war, but can

isil be defeated without ground troops in and plus, the fbi uses a sting operation to flush out ground troops here in the united states. >> the issue is, is somebody predisposed to commit the crime in that's very difficult when you're talking about young kids. that's part of the problem, and that's part of the reason there's such a perception in the muslim community that these kids are being entrapped. >> how they may be luring young men into committing acts that they might not have otherwise done. after 60 years, rosa parks was to move from her seat on the bus, why race still sparks protests. and i'll talk to the daughter of malcolm x. all coming up in 9 minutes. >> thank you, and saudi arabia is a conservative muslim country where women are still fighting for the right to

drive. but in less than two weeks, saudi women will exercise their right to vote and hold office for the first time in history. >> a small celebration of a first in saudi arabia's conservative history. al habi is one of 900 women running for office. she and the male members of her campaign team are launching her website. we have been waiting to be given this opportunity as ladies to participate in the decision making in the country. since the door opened for us, i was one of the first female entrepreneurs toker participate in it decision making. in 2011, they granted the women the right to play a part in saudi politics, but women are only allowed to run for municipal office. in 2013, he said women should make up 20% of the consultive

council which advises the king. but activists say that any changes are minor at best. and women still face restrictions. they can't drive or open a bank account. she has had to refocus on her campaign. >> i think that there are limitations in being able to meet with the public. so i decided to go to the wall to meet with the community. and this has allowed me to focus on my electoral campaign, where everyone can communicate so i can get the largest number of voters. female voters say that having women in office will make it easier to raise issues. it was difficult in the past to communicate with men, but with the presence of a woman now, i can speak to her directly. >> reporter: it's a step toward greater freedom for women in saudi arabia, but critics say that there's still

a long way to go. >> as john just mentioned, 60 years ago today, a black woman in montgomery, alabama, refused to it give up her seat on the bus, and it sparked a movement. rosa parks was arrested, and her active defiance started a year-long boycott of the bus it system. we remember rosa parks, we'll be right back.

>> you know, for any one of us, global climate change seems like an overwhelming problem. but one scientist argues that you can do more than for the planet than change a light bulb or ride a bike to work. >> what do i do in the face of so many environmental and political challenges? what do we do individually? collectively and institutionally? what do we do? this is a creative challenge. >> one artist and engineer, natalie, is meeting it head on. she creates practical, scalable works of art to redesign systems that we all depend on, like food distribution and transportation, to make them climate friendly. >> what i do, the invitation to coproduce the future. >> a project that reintegrates trees into cities, not as ornaments, but as office

landlord. >> it's owned and operated by the tree. the tree is the landlord, so this idea that we can change the revenue structure, and the way that we value nature. >> and the role that people play in it. the idea behind pharmacy, an urban farming system that encourages city dwellers to grow highly perishable and edible flowers. she hopes to improve air quality, nutrition and biodiversity without undermining rural family farms. artwork solving problems, a theme that drives her creative process. like filtering carbon from the air we breathe to make pencils. >> so we put it back in. >> encouraging ziplining as a viable form of urban transport. >> once you earn your wings,

you can strap on your wings, and explore what fast, emissionless, radically inexpensive mobility looks like. >> and turning hula hooping into a bish exercise for humans and the environment. >> we fill them with new england wildflower seeds, and as you hula hoop, you're spreading perennial resources for all of those predicious pollinators. through her university environmental health clinic. >> they come with prescriptions not for pharmaceuticals, but things that they can do to produce environmental health. >> it's giving day across the united states, and that's exactly what facebook pounder and ceo, mark zuckerberg did

today. they are donating 99% of their facebook shares to charity. and that's currently worth $45 billion. the donation will be given over the course of their lifetime. and it's to commemorate the birth of their daughter. that's all of our time and thank you for being with us. i'm tony harris. john ig sig is back with us now. >> we begin tonight with increased military presence in iraq and syria. ashe carter said that special operation forces will expand in the fights against isil and ground troops which the pentagon is looking for. >> reporter: the u.s. already has 3500 troops in iraq being, including special operation forces that have already conducted raids against isil targets in both iraq and syria. but back in october, after that raid in which the u.s. assisted kurdish forces to