turmoil began in april when the president sought a third term in office which he went on to win. much more on that story and everything else we have been covering on our website, aljazeera.com. ♪ criminal charges. feder federal firms focus on a man suspected of helping the san bernardino attackers. ash carter under fire for using his personal email at work. and new rules could put the breaks on the development of those driverless cars. ♪

this is al jazeera america live in new york city. i'm del walters. you are looking right now -- that is the national counter terrorism center. that is where the president is meeting at this hour with his national security team. he will address reporters shortly. when he does, we will bring that to you live. meanwhile there are reports that criminal charges will be filed today against the friend of the suspects of the san bernardino attack. he bought the two assault rifles that were used. authorities say he gai those rifles to the couple before they shot and killed 14. they also say that marquez told them that he and farook discussed an attack as far back as 2010. meanwhile president obama will be going to san bernardino san bernardino, california tomorrow to meet with the injured and the families of those killed. there is a new poll out that shows that 29% of americans are concerned about the issue of

terrorism, that is up from 4% last year. only 46% of those tolled say the u.s. is doing enough to prevent another attack. and that is also down. as we mentioned at this hour the president is in washington meeting with his national security team. mike viqueira is at the white house. what do we expect him to say, mike? >> reporter: this is part of a campaign by the president and top administration officials as we head into the holiday season, del, to reassure the american public. we just received a note that the fbi director sent to his own employees on the eve of this holiday season. his basic message is go home, enjoy your families, but when you are asked by your family what is the threat level to the united states? how should we be acting? his advice is to tell people, do not be afraid. there are things that the intelligence community cannot

see, there are always threats that will be out there, and he cannot stop at all. but he advises people to be aware of their surroundings. to be aware of your surroundings, to be cautious at all times. and that is part of what the president is doing today. he saw him earlier in the week at the pentagon, and just about two and a half weeks ago at the oval office, trying to reassure the american people, and not incidentally trying to answer the critics who say he is not on top of the fight against. he is not on top of counter terrorism in the wake of the paris attacks and the san bernardino attacks. he is due to leave tomorrow on an extended holiday in hawaii. but it was the first year in 2009 when the president was on vacation over the holidays, when the so-called underwear bomber

tried to blow up that plane over the skies of michigan in detroit. ever since then the white house has made an effort to put the president in positions where he is leading the investigation, and i think that is part of what you are going to see today and we have seen in the last couple of weeks. >> that being said, what are the nation's biggest security concerns right now? >> reporter: well, again, del, it's the loan-wolf style attack is obviously a major concern. the sort of style of attacks we have seen in san bernardino. those who are radicalized or influenced by social media, by messages, what they are saying in the media, by the high-profile attacks that simply are not giving any indication to friends family, law enforcement, intelligence services whatsoever, that they are on the verge of doing something horrible and ghastly. that is the one thing that i think is the primary focus,

obviously officials will say they stopped any number of attacks. they are certainly unable to tell us exactly what those are. for all of the usual reasons. approach that with any measure of skepticism that you would like, but it is the lone wolf attacks that the public is most concerned about. >> mike viqueira thank you very much. several school districts around the country are reporting threats at this hour, schools in plainfield, indiana, shutting down due to an online threat there. officials in miami and fort lauderdale floor, dallas, houston, texas all working with

authority trying to determine the source of those threats. the house voting today on part of a $1.1 trillion spending bill. tax credits for child care, low-income families and college costs will be made permanent. a popular corporate tax cut will be extended. and it delays taxes that were part of the after affordable care act in two years. >> when we return in january, the house will put an obamacare repeal bill on the floor, and pass it, and put it on the president's desk. this bill will also defund planned parenthood. we are going to keep working to give families relief from this law, while we work to replace it all together. federal funding for planned parenthood still in that bill. republicans wanted that. they also wanted to ban syrian refugees from coming into the u.s. democrats didn't get suffer gun control measures that they

wanted either. a baltimore judge is going to meet with lawyers on both sides of the death of freddie gray case. that trial was declared a mistrial. john terrett has more. >> reporter: there was a small protest outside of the courthouse yesterday when news of the mistrial filtered out, but that ended pretty much mid-evening, and then there was a large gathering of people up in west baltimore, near the burned out cvs last april. that was a unity rally, and it was loud but very peaceful. police flooded the city to keep the peace, and there were no major incidents to report today. the main task now, to discuss the possibility of a retrial,

setting a new date with a new jury, probably in the new year. we don't know what will happen to the trial of the other five officers. it's possible that the judge will splip all five of the trials down and slot officer william porter back in, or attack the trial of the officer on the end, which means baltimore will be dealing with this issue right through to the early part of the summer. we don't know until we judge tells us what his decision is. that may come today or it might take another scheduling meeting or two before he makes up his mind. ferguson, missouri officials saying they are close to an agreement with the justice department over their police force. the force that has been under investigation since 2014. that's when police shot and killed michael brown and those protests followed. a justice department report

finding rampant police bias against a african americans. in chicago the probe into that police department is now underway. the investigation looking into the fatal shooting of laquan mcdonald to see if it was part of a pattern of civil rights violations. ash carter in erbil, iraq today. praising the efforts of kurdish forces, encouraging european and gulf states to join the fight. the purpose is to review assistance to iraqi troops. meanwhile the senate armed services committee now asking for copies of ash carter's personal emails after carter admitted he used his personal email for work-related business. the "new york times" reporting that he used that account during the first few months of the job. that was after hillary clinton was criticized for doing the

same as secretary of state. jamie mcintyre is live for us in washington, d.c. and jamie how could carter do this is what some people are asking? >> reporter: it is a head scratcher, del, but just to back up and tell you what happened. early in his tenure, a couple of months in. he was using his iphone where he has his personal account to send what he says were routine administrative messages to his staff, no classified information, and he said he was careful to copy his official government account so there would be a record of every email. he was advised at the time that was in violation of dod policy. and since then he has discontinued the practice. in fact he says he rarely uses his government email account. but the committee has asked for the emails to take a look at them in. but carter says, look, this was my mistake. i should have known better.

the clinton controversy was going on at the time. but he was also a former deputy secretary of defense. and he admits someone in his position should have known better. and this story came to light because the "new york times" filed a freedom of information ask. the senate armed services committee wants to see those emails. we have seen in the hillary clinton case that sometimes in retrospect things that looked inknock louse at the time, could be judged to be classified. and a number of other organizations have requested for emails now, including al jazeera. >> jamie thank you very much. once a again, a reminder, we are looking live at washington. the president is meeting with his national security team.

he'll talk to reporters when he comes out. when he does, we'll bring that to you live. also the number of cuban asylum seekers is up 70%. the only way to get better is to challenge yourself, and that's what we're doing at xfinity. we are challenging ourselves to improve every aspect of your experience. and this includes our commitment to being on time. every time. that's why if we're ever late for an appointment, we'll credit your account $20. it's our promise to you. we're doing everything we can to give you the best experience possible. because we should fit into your life. not the other way around.

this u.n. is expected to vote today to sanction businesses that have ties to isil. it is a 28-page agreement that vets some of the sanctions that have been in effect for 12 years

now. travel between the u.s. and cuba could soon get easier, negotiators working to restore flights between the united states and havana. the state department says it is not done yet, and officials say it could be months before regular flights begin. but the lack of those direct flights is not stopping cubans from coming to the u.s. >> reporter: we are on the larado nagsz bridge, crossing from mexico into the united states. and these are the very steps that 28,000 cubans took this year here at the busiest port of entry for cubans seeking refugee status in the united states. across the country that number is even higher. 43,000 cubans entering the u.s. under a special provision that allows them almost immediate parole into the country, and permanent residence status after one year. the number of asylum seekers is up 78% from last year, a jump

after president obama announced an opening of ties with cuba- december. claudia says cubans are seeing this as a last opportunity to gain legal entrance into the u.s. she traveled by boat from cuba to cancun, mexico, and crossed into texas this week. about 5,000 are stranded in costa rica unable to cross into nicaragua to continue their journey north. costa rica's president says his country is paying for the u.s.'s immigration policy towards cubans. a spokesman tells al jazeera, the administration has no plans to change its current immigration policy towards cubans, though that assurance falling on deaf ears for the cubans who already crossed this bridge. russia's president vladimir

putin spending more than three hours talking to the people of russia. all part of his traditional end of the year news conference. he covered a lot of ground, including the russian military operation in syria. putin saying the operation will continue until the political process begins. >> translator: i have said on many occasions that we will never agree with the idea that somebody from outside, whoever it is, should impose the idea of who should rule another country. it simply doesn't fit with any kind of common sense or international law. and secretary of state kerry asked me about this. i told him our position has not changed. russian sending fighter jets to syria in september supporting president bashar al-assad. a russian plane was shot down on the border cast month that sparked tensions between ankara and moscow. a pact has been signed in

libya, uniting these self declared parliament in triply and the nationally recognized one in tobruk. >> the signing of the peace agreement is the start of building the new libya to open the way and to increase the hopes of the libyans and peoples of the region. >> libya collapses into civil war after a nato-backed are volt overthrew gadhafi five years ago. a chinese government announcing objections over the u.s.'s plan to sell arms to taiwan. it comes as tensions are rising over island building in this the south china sea.

a deter for the future of transportation. california out with new rules over those self driving cars. and a drug company ceo who became infamous for jacking up prices is now in fbi custody.

you are looks live right now at the national counter terrorism center. we're being told by the white house that the president just wrapped up his meeting with his national security team.

mike viqueira is at the white house. mike, are we expecting anything different from the president? this will be his third time in recent weeks that heed a addressed the nation concerning what the white house is doing. do we expect anything new? >> reporter: i don't think so, del. this is president obama as we head into the holiday season, trying to do what he has done over the course of several public appearances over the course of the last two weeks, beginning with the oval office on that sunday night, and a similar trip to the one he is making here to the national counter terrorism center. earlier in the week he was at the pentagon, going over intelligence, going over the fight against isil in syria, talking publicly after those meetings, trying to reassure the public that the administration and the apparatus -- law enforcement apparatus is on top

of this to the best of their ability and admitting that not everything can be seen or protected. but as james comey said in a holiday greeting we have obtained to his employees at the fbi, you can't see everything all of the time, but when you gather around the holiday table with your friends and family, the message to them should be -- you should not be afraid. and i think that's essentially what the president and the white house have been up to over the course of the last couple of weeks, del. >> mike, one of the interesting developing was on the morning show when we talked about this climate of fear. it is one thing for the president to say don't be afraid. it is another thing when everybody on the other side of the -- aisle is saying be very

afraid. >> reporter: but the opposition has to paint a picture of the incumbent -- >> yeah, larry coring saying that kennedy used it to beat up on eisenhower. >> reporter: well, sure. i guess the easy way to say it is nobody won votes by saying everything is great, and stick with the status quo. it is obviously the job of the opposition to provide criticism. some of it we may dismiss at political, some of it we may dismiss as demagoguery. but it's up to the president, and frankly he did come into some criticism last month when he went to the g-20 summit in the wake of the paris attacks in

turkey, and he lashed out in very visceral and angry terms of many of those republicans that you speak of who call his foreign policy as we heard the other night, feckless, who have said that he is not doing enough in the fight against isil who talk of making the sand glow and carpet bombing. it is up to the individual voter and the american public to determine what is real and what is rhetoric. and i think what the president has tried to do is counter that, and frankly, the president has political concerns as well, but also he is of course the president of the united states, and his job is to reassure the public, and the white house is mindful of the criticism the president faced when he did not do so in the wake of the paris attacks. plus ever since the 2009 attempt to blow up that plane over the skies of detroit on christmas

day by the so-called underwear bomber, and the president was on the first of what has become an annual holiday where he grew up in hawaii, and they were caught rather flat footed. they were criticized because they were slow to respond, that this individual was not intercepted, that this individual has exposed weaknesses within the security system. ever since then, whenever the president goes on vacation, the white house has gone out of their way, both before the trip and during the trip to show and demonstrate to people in a very visual way that the president is being briefed every day on intelligence, that the president has prepared the best he can for potential attacks, or put on the guard to prevent any potential attacks. so that all plays into it, del. >> i want to show the audience

this poll, because the fear is real. this is a pugh research center poll that was just conducted. it shows that 29% of americans say they are concerned about the issue of terrorism, that is up from just 4% last year. only 46% people think the united states is doing enough to prevent an attack, that is down from 72% in 2014. karen i guess the old saying is if at first you don't succeed, try try again. it seems the president is trying to assure the american public that they are safe, but this is palpable. >> it is palpable. there are very mu that are willing to say you are safe? >> is that because they didn't say they know you are safe. there are firearms on just about

every corner, and anybody that wants to get one can do anything they want. >> part of it is just plane superstition that if you say you are safe, who knows what is going to happen next. but we have has seen a steady stream of politicians not want to look at the gun issue, because the pushback they will get from the nra and others, but who are intent on saying this is a measured view we have of things, we might not be so safe, so it is politically played poorly to say guess what we spent $4 trillion on an intelligence advances in the past 14 years, and guess what, we're safer. >> but is it politically correct, this is president obama at the national counter terrorism center. >> good morning, everybody.

well, as president and commander in chief, my highest priority is the security of the american people, and on a regular basis i convene members of my national security team for an in-depth review of our efforts to prevent terrorist attacks against our citizens around the world and here at home. we examine any known and emerging threats. we review our security posture, and we make sure that we're taking every necessary measure to protect our people. today i want to hold our meeting here, rather than in the situation room at the white house, i wanted to hold it at the national counter terrorism center, because this is the hub of where so many of our experts and efforts come together. i want to thank our director of national intelligence, jim clapper, as well as nctc

director, and everybody at nctc, all of you, for welcoming us here today. now nick, along with cia director brennan, and fbi director comey provided a threat briefing. they updated us on the investigation into the san bernardino attacks. i reiterated the investigation will continue to have full support of the federal government, and we should leave no stone unturned. secretary of homeland security johnson updated us on the measures we're taking here at home, to increase awareness, stay vigilant and enhance the safety of the traveling public. [ changing captioners ] anxious, and that'sns were understandable.