not whether. i'm ray suarez, and that's the "inside story." ♪ this is al jazeera america live from new york city. i'm tony harris. aid arrives, a little bit of relief for the besieged syrian town of madaya. moments before capture, a mexican tv stationaries video of the raid that captured el capo. building a legacy, what to expect from president obama's final state of the union address. and remembering the life and legacy of david bowie. ♪

relief has finally made its way to the residents of madaya, syria. today a convoy of trucks arrived in the besieged towns. doctors without borders said that in recent weeks many people have starved to death. it is caught in the middle of the syrian war, and has been cut off from the outside since july. caroline malone reports now from neighboring lebanon. >> reporter: aid has finally arrived. a convoy carrying desperately needed aid to the town of madaya. but there are demands that more needs to be done. >> it's not good enough.

the united nations have done this exactly three months ago, and look where we are at now. >> reporter: to the north, supply trucks, heading for two other towns. both convoys had to arrive at the same time, as part of a deal negotiated with the syrian government a few days ago. pro-government forces have blockaded madaya for months. and the other towns are cut off by armed rebel groups. people in madaya say they have been reduced to eating leaves, and grass, and dogs and cats. the u.n. says there are 400,000 people trapped by various sieges. the u.n. has more aid convoys planned for across syria, but the delivery depends on the different warring sides and

whether they will let the aid through. caroline malone, al jazeera. syria's ambassador to the united states discussed the relief effort this afternoon. he says the syrian government should not be blamed for not allowing aid to get through. >> the syrian government did not stop any convoys of humanitarian assistance. on the contrary. we sent plenty of convoys and we asked the u.n. to send more. but they are terrorists. of course they will confiscate this humanitarian assistance and use it as a matter on gaining on the debt arement of the civilian population. >> and the ambassador accused the media of exaggerating the extend of the suffering. dozens were killed in attacks in iraq today.

gunmen stormed a mall after detonating a bomb here its entrance. at least 18 were killed. isil claimed responsibility for the attack. and at casino, a pair of suicide comes claimed another bomb. and a tape has been kept under wraps until al jazeera america requested it. jamie mcintyre says the incident comes at a delicate time in relations between the united states and iraq. >> reporter: tony the pentagon denounced the iranian action at the time, saying firing the rockets as a u.s. aircraft carrier passed by was dangerous and unprofessional. iran denied firing the rockets.

the fuzzy imagery was taken by a navy seahawk helicopter. as i was passing through the a strait, into the arabian gulf before christmas. the video shows several other vessels in the international shipping lane, including what appears to be a commercial oil tanker. then the camera focuses in on five small boats firing unguided rockets. the u.s. navy says it's the kind of fire exercise iran does all the time, except this time the fuselage was filed less than a mile from the american supercarrier truman, which was on its way to launch air strikes against isil in iraq and syria. while the rockets posed no direct threat to the carrier, a spokesman still says they were extremely unprofessional and

unnecessarily provocative. >> the approximate symmetry was highly unusual. >> reporter: administration critic, senator john mccain says the lack of u.s. response to the iranian rocket incident is just another example of president obama turning a blind eye to iranian provocations for fear iran will walk away from his nuclear deal. even democrats want to know how and when the white house plans to recommend sanctions against iran for two recent ballistic missile tests, missiles that in theory might be capable of delivering a nuclear war head some day. the white house insists the president is still reviewing the facts. >> we will issue those sanctions and those designations at the appropriate time there's no question about it. >> what is the appreciate time?

>> we'll issue those when it is time. >> but there are no immediate plans to do so. >> we'll do so when it's time. >> reporter: many both cases the white house is trying to determine if what it considers provocative acts are the work of hard liners in iran who, much like hard liners in the united states, would like nothing better than to see the nuclear accord derailed. >> jamie thank you. gun dealers will soon be required to report lost and stolen firearms to the federal government. it is part of president obama east executive action on guns. they announced the new set of rules today. gun dealers will have 48 hours to file the report. it includes legally purchased gun that go missing while in transit. the specific types of stolen guns are linked to 1300 crimes across the country every year.

gun control is one of several issues expected to be featured in president obama's final state of the union form night. mike viqueira joins us now with more on that address. mike? >> reporter: well, good evening to you, tony. the president's address tuesday night is expected to be part fair well address, part a call to action for the president's last year in office, his remaining term in the white house, but one thing we do know is a legacy-minded president obama is going to be looking forward by in part looking back at his time in office. the message from president obama tuesday night, i people not a lame duck. there's more to do. >> the president of the united states. [ cheers and applause ] ♪ >> reporter: but a white house multimedia pr blitz before the speech makes his approach clear, building a legacy for the future will be revisiting the past. >> we will rebuild, we will recover, and the united states of america will emerge stronger

than before. >> reporter: that was 2009, just a month after taking office, his first speech to congress, heading into his final state of the union, the unemployment rate is down to 5%, the economy is growing, the domestic auto industry has risen from its death bed, all positive fines by most measures, and yet years of slow growth, stagnant wages, and income inequality, all factors in voter's anxiety over their economic future. fuelling the rise of populous, like donald trump and bernie sanders. which brings up another problem for the president, the calendar. in just three weeks the first votes of 2016 will be cast in iowa. it will consume much of the political oxygen. complicating relations with congress.

>> the president shall give to congress information about the state of our union. >> reporter: this state of the union will be non-traditional, but there are boxes the president still wants to check. closing the military prison at guantanamo bay. criminal justice reform, and pushing the pacific rim trade pact through congress. and tony, the president is also expected to out to his foreign policy record, and expected to do a great deal of traveling overse overseas. he'll point to the diplomatic opening to cuba, and point to the still controversial nuclear deal with iran. but people are uneasy after the paris attacks and after the san bernardino attacks, and we'll be facing an american public and a congress that is deeply skeptical about his goals and the way he is going about the tactics of foreign policy. >> mike, thank you.

some of the issues the president are -- is expected to address tomorrow night are race and immigration, we'll talk about that at the bottom of the hour. a maryland appeals court appealed proceedings in a move to sort out legal issues. john terrett joins us live from baltimore. >> reporter: tony, good evening to you. the baltimore judge wants officer william porter to testify as a prosecution witness, but the appeals court says just a moment we'll be the judge of that, and we'll take our time about it, which means the entire freddie gray case is entering uncharted territory. a maryland appeals court ordering a halt to caesar good season. he drove the police wagon.

the maryland court of special appeals deciding whether the star witness, officer william porter could be forced to testify against goodson who is charged with second degree murder. barry william in charge of all six police trials compelled officer porter to testify, even though porter is facing his own retrial in the spring. without his testimony, there are questions about whether the prosecution can prove its case; that goodson knew gray needed medal help but ignored it. >> officer porter is the only one that connects the dots, that proves that he was affair that freddie gray needed emergency medical assistance. so without him testifying the state way be able to prove that

goodson needed emergency medical help. >> reporter: the appeals court said forcing porter to testify is unfair and unconstitutional. >> i would be very concerned about him testifying, because despite this immunity the state has given him, there's still a very real concern that he could be prosecuted for perjury. >> reporter: his attorney is also concerned that he would be vulnerable to federal prosecution. it's a logistic call nightmare for the state and prosecution attorneys, throwing months of careful planning in which each trial is separate and in sequence into disarray. >> it is very unusual and there will be weeks if not months before the court of special appeals makes their final decision, and once they make that decision, there is always the possible the the losing

party would file an appeal. >> reporter: baltimore has worked hard to repair relations between the community and the police in the past eight months, but the longer these trials drag on, many fear the greater that chance of frustration growing over the lack of a resolution, increasing the chance of a return to the kind of street violence seen in the aftermath of freddie gray's death. so six officers involved, three are now wrapped up in this appeal. al jazeera has learned that the trials of the other three can go ahead, but they are very unlikely to be brought up. they will start on time, much later this year. tony. >> okay. john terrett for us in baltimore. today a saudi arabia detainee of guantanamo bay was

sent more. they are calling on the u.s. to close the prison, saying they have not made amongs for the abuses on the so call war on terror. coming up, extradition fight, the effort to bring drug kingpin to the united states to face charges. plus hillary clinton was once considered the front runner for the democratic nomination, why some of her campaign stafferers admit they are now nervous.

♪ >> okay, you are looking at newly released video that shows the police raid that captured escaped mexican drug lord joaquin guzman. they called it operation "black swan" after more than six months on the run, el chapo is back in mexico's highest security prison. it is being reported that guzman's decision to loosen his own security just before the interview of the actor, sean penn may have lead to his capture. chicago is one of six cities that have indictments against el chapo, meaning he could be

destined for prison time there. as ashar qureshi reports now, the drug lord is responsible for the vast majority of drug trafficking in the windy city. >> reporter: he was named public enemy number one. it's a dubious moniker last used by chicago law enforcement to describe al capone in the 1930s. >> his involvement with the day-to-day drug trade in chicago is of a major significance, and he controls the street gangs by supplying them with the drugs. >> reporter: in chicago the u.s. drug enforcement estimates he supplies 80% of the city's heroin, cocaine, marijuana, and meth. he has been captured three times. he escaped in 2001 using money, bribes and a series of tunnels. he was captured in 2014, but

escaped again last jail through a mile-long tunnel. following a dramatic raid, he was recaptured a third time on friday. authorities carried out intense and careful intelligence work, and a criminal investigation that allowed them to identify and arrest guzman and dismantle the influence of the network around this criminal. >> reporter: that network has chicago at the center. in 2009, federal authorities in illinois indicted him in what was called one of the most significant drug importation conspiracies ever charged in chicago. he has also been indicted in several other u.s. cities. more than 20 cartel members, including el chapo have been indicted in federal court in chicago. in a statement the dea said:

ultimately it will be u.s. attorney general loretta lynch who will determine where guzman will face trial should he be extradited. authorities warn it could take at least a year for the arrest warrants to be processed. >> the significance of those charges, not -- not just that he is charged with a dozen counts here versus five counts there, but what those charges consist of. >> reporter: the other big question is whether or not his arrest will have any effect on the flow of drugs into the united states or here on to the streets of chicago. the drug lord himself says no.

and while some law enforce officials believe the arrest may cause a temporary disruption in supply, the millionty billion dollars business of drug trafficking will continue. still the arrest is certainly considered a law enforcement victory for now. ashar qureshi, al jazeera, chicago. the director of the drug policy project at the institute for policy studies joins me now from washington, d.c. good to have you on the program. tell me why in your view, because i know you have a couple of different opinions on the idea of arresting the drug kingpin, so why is it significant to have chapo guzman behind bars regardless of

whether the sean penn interview has anything to do with it or not? >> i don't think it will have much effect in terms of the amount of drugs entering the united states, but i think it's important in the sense that he might be able to provide a lot of information about a lot of corruption, so there are, i think tonight a lot of nervous officials in mexico, and even some in this the united states perhaps in law enforcement, and in politicians who are going to be terrified that he may cut a deal and start informing, then it gets really dangerous. >> if he was going to talk, wouldn't he have talked by now? >> well, once you have him, and if he believes he will never see freedom again, there might be things he can do relative to his family and other things to get him to cooperate a little bit. >> is this a question more of when not if, but will he ultimately be extradited to the united states? >> i think it's very hard for

the mexican government to extradite, you know, criminals to the united states. given that they have let him escape twice, it's really hard to see how they can prolong keeping him in mexico, although there are legal appeals that his lawyers are going to file in all likelihood that could drag this process out. >> what it -- you have been working in this field forever, it seems. what is it we need to understand about the drug trade as we watch the mexican president celebrate the recapture of guzman. does the arrest of guzman have any real impact on the drug trade? >> no, it's a problem of economics. it's not about evil doers, it's the fact that we provide price support through drug traffickers, through drug

prohibition. so what they are fighting over is minimally processed agriculture of chemical products, that ought to cost pennies, but we increase the risk to the traffickers. as we increase that risk, they are allowed to charge a higher risk premium down the line. the more dangerous we make it for them, the more profitable it becomes for them. some get caught or kill, but the rest of them make out even better because we created a price support for them. >> right. do you think the people who use these drugs, the people in the united states or chicago who use these drugs make any real connection to the kind of mayhem that el chapo has caused for people on both sides of the border? >> probably not in terms of -- of -- you know, long-term use and dependency, they are

dealing with their own issues, and these are people who have underlying problems of poverty, disarpair, alienation. for so many people in this country, they don't believe tomorrow will be a better day. >> which would suggest that if you wanted to do more with this issue, you have might look more at the -- the user side, as opposed to sort of just taking a law enforcement approach to this, correct? >> absolutely. the first effort ought to go to education and prevention to keep people from using these drugs to begin with. but the politicians want to look like they are doing something, and that usually means law enforcement. and if you throw law enforcement at a problem decade after decade, we basically capture the inefficient traffickers, the

clumsy ones, they screwed up. they got caught, and the ones we miss are the most sophisticated, the most intelligent. we're breeding supertrafficers with an overreliance on law enforcement. >> good to see you. appreciate it, thank you. still ahead, falling behind, why one generation is not feeling the benefits of america's economic recovery. and now david bowie was able to transcend genres, and build a, arable musical career.

president obama will deliver his final state of the union address, just over 24 hours from now. th white house says the president is optimistic about his last year in office. among his top priorities will be criminal justice reform, and the pacific rim trade deal. >> it will be on the challenges facing the country not just in the year ahead, but what is critical are the kinds of decisions that we make now will have a significant impact on future generations of americans. the u.s. economy has improved since president obama's first term, but many americans are still struggling, including millennials.

patricia sabga caught up with one young woman to see how the obama presidency has shaped her life. >> reporter: this 32 year old has come a long way since president obama was making his first run for the white house. >> i was completely bankrupt and broke. >> reporter: and decided to stay in college. >> when president obama came on the scene, it gave me the ability to see beyond my -- my situation of being broke. >> reporter: a turning point on a rough economic road. >> sometimes i would have to leave school and go and work in order to save money. i worked at the gap, i worked at old navy, so all the gap brands essentially. >> reporter: low-wage jobs, but she was grateful. >> just to have somewhere to go. >> reporter: in 2013 she learned a bachelor's in public relations

from cleveland state university. seven months later she landed a full-time job as a digital marketer. though they are the most highly american educated again indication, millennials are also the most poorly paid. they also carry heavy student loan debt. more than 50,000 in corin's case. >> not really big on stuff. i don't want to be bound to a mortgage and to a home and then have to leave and worry about managing it or renting it or possibly selling it. >> reporter: her financial habits and her confidence about her financial future, matter not just to her, but really to the entire nation, because she is at the vanguard of the country's largest generation, millennials, a coheart who's attitudes and

opportunities will shape the country's economic future. like giving back. she plans to sell bracelets online and donate benefits to cancer research. and she quit her full-time job. >> i'm not bound to a full-time job anymore. i'm not going and just working for my benefit. >> reporter: mastering a future, she says obama made possible. >> in 10 or 20 years i want to have an empire, a marketing empire, and i think that president obama has laid the foundation for me to do that. >> patricia sabga, al jazeera, cleveland, ohio. race relations in america and immigration reform have also been major issues during president obama's years in office. joining me in studio, anchor and executive producer of learn

-- latin america. good to have you both on the program. >> good to be here. >> it has been a long, long time. in the circles that you both travel, the people that you meet, talk to, and the stories that you report, maria let me come to you first, connect for me the optimism expressed by the young woman in patty's piece but the reality of this slow kind of grinding recovery to this economy. what the future really looks like in this low-wage recovery for young people? >> well, look, 2016, tony, i decided is my year of optimism. >> it is? >> yeah. >> okay. >> because i have travelled to all 50 states, plus two territories, and i know that we're -- our country -- we're going through a difficult

moment. there are a lot of questions and issues about who we are, what do we stand for, on top of the economic insecurity. but i also feel like the american people, if you will -- god i hate to talk in these big terms, but they are a really good people, and that when they have to choose, they are going to choose to side on the right things, like what we really stand for in this country, so their optimism is real. it is part of who we are as americans. >> right. right. >> on the other hand, you know, i live in harlem. i see every day people coming in to get continuing education at 9:00 in the morning, they are coming in to get their geds, and i have great admiration for people who are still believing that they can change their life, do something good. but i also know i know people who are up against the wall. >> again and again. >> whether they are women over

50 who can't find a job, or young men in their 20s who can't find a job, and it is disheartening. sometimes i say the american dream, slash american nightmare. >> yeah. yeah. khalil let me have you pick up on what she was talking about here. we are celebrating nearly 200,000 jobs -- >> nearly 300,000. >> nearly 300,000 jobs, but we know maynorties still lag behind. >> i think he has to paint a picture of a future that will brighten that the recent past. young people are experiencing job levels that are unpress independented since world war ii. and we know the longer it takes for them to experience full-time

employment in our labor markets, the less likely they are to have meaningful careers down the road. and there is nothing in the economic indicators right now that is suggesting that will change. we're seeing a turning of our 35 to 55-year-old population white color and blue collar, coming in and out of the labor market. so what is the quality of the future for our young people. the occupy movement has sort of dissipated, but the issues are still front and center. >> what -- should the president -- khalil first, and then maria, and then mix it off, you know how i like to do this. [ laughter ] >> should the president have targeted in a more direct way, unemployment, disenfranchisement

in his first term with programs? should he have done that? >> absolutely. listen, this is a big debate. and we will debate this -- the historians especially, i among them, did the president trade on two terms versus one term the economic policies he should have pursued. i think the fact remains we have never seen the kind of robust targeted intervention economically for minority countries in this community going back to the war on poverty. the war on poverty was huge in his reach in addressing poverty in the 60s, but it was not targeted specific to african americans, and this president had an opportunity to make an impact there, though, would he have been able to pass the affordable care act if he did. >> exactly.

and i want to get to this immigration discussion, because there are many who will say to you though president had an opportunity in that first term to pick a big agenda item to go for, and for many it was a choice between immigration reform and healthcare, and the president chose healthcare. in your view, did he make the wrong decision? >> in my view -- >> yeah. yeah. >> if you are a president that wants to lead, i'm not sure why you have to say it can only be one. >> yeah. >> i mean why not? >> two terms -- >> two terms, right. >> if you won two terms you are making a choice. >> but the calculation from others that he would have lost the house in 2010 with either choice -- >> and he did lose the house. >> and he did lose the house. >> right. so conventional wisdom says if

you do something on immigration, there is going to be a blow back. so let's forget violations of due process -- >> deportations. >> deportations. let's forget family separation. let's forget children being torn away from their parents, let's forget the conditions of the detention centers. >> okay. >> if you only look at the issue of immigration, and the fact that we are completely stalled with 11 million undocumented immigrants in the united states, the real argument is economics. if you were to bring these people, quote unquote, up out of the shadows -- i mean, i know people who would love to buy a home, buy a car, would love to get their kids into college, right, but they are thinking what if my husband is stopped and deported and then all of a sudden i'm carrying the weight of the world.

so there is a whole segment of the american society that is stagnating. and that is not just effecting the immigrants. that is affecting all of us. >> i want to get to one other bit here. i want to put this quote out from president johnson's speech on voting rights: that gets me to this discussion on race that i want to have with you briefly. your thoughts -- khalil let me start with you, on race relations during the obama years. after the election folks were declaring this is a post-racial america. >> well, that was wrong then and wrong now. it was putting symbolism in front of substance, and as much as we all really were incredibly proud of the electorate, and of

the president himself for the race that he won and deservedly won, he quickly pivoted towards his own success as an exampleal of the exceptionalism of this nation. that refrain is fundamentally the full breath of his racial agenda in this country in terms of rhetorically. mostly what we have gotten in his place has been sound bite history, he has not helped the nation come to a point of truth and reconciliation about how the past helps explain the present and how we have to move forward as one nation. >> and we know what is happening with gun sales since the president came into office, and about this dramatic rise in hate

groups in the country, and there has been a scapegoating of groups, of blacks, and hispanics in the country. what is your critique on race relations during obama years? >> i'll just say we know what it looks like to have a black unarmed teenager shot by a white cop. we know what that looks like. the fear we are living right now today, because the obama administration has said it will go back and do raids to deport women and children who came here seeking refuge, so there is a kind of fear here, tony. i was talking to sources before i came on, they said people right now are afraid to take their children to school. these are undocumented immigrants. even immigrants that have a good chance of winning their case.

these lawyers were telling me, they might be afraid to leave their homes to come and finish their cases. so it's important to understand that along with everything that is happening today in our country, there are people who are part and parcel of who we are, they are not a latino problem, not a mexican problem, not a salvadorian problem, it's an american issue. and they are living in a particular kind of fear that in 20 or 30 years movies will be made about this. about what people are living through today. and it's our job to tell that story, to bring that story forth, because we know this country is a country -- >> you do it very well. i have 30 left. as quickly as you can. khalil, your biggest disappointment with the president? >> my biggest disappointment is that president obama could have done more to teach us about the

lessons that black people helped to expand the meaning and practice of democracy. i felt like he put us in a box and said we're going to be bigger than what you represent. we helped to make democracy real in this country as black people, and that's the fact of history. and the president could have celebrated that more. >> maria? >> probably his legacy will be in terms of immigrants the deporter in chief, and creating -- i hate to say this -- a division, or a questioning between african american latino immigrant, white. and he could have had a moment to say this is who we are, and it's sad -- and not to deny from a lot of progress, but this is a moment where we feel a lot more divided, and he had an opportunity. >> i really enjoyed every second of that. khalil, the director of the schaumburg center in harlem, and

executive producer of the latino program. thank you both very much. al jazeera america special coverage of the state of the union address happens right here. we'll be right back.

german chancellor angela merkel is backing new laws to expel foreigners convicted of crimes. most of the suspects are asylum seekers and migrants. more now from.com -- dominic

kane in berlin. >> reporter: it's more than a week since the events on new year's eve, and more than 500 people have now come forward to complain of being attacked on the night. police say 40% of the allegations relates to sexual assaults, and where at first officials seemed hesitant to identify those who carried out the crime, now the interior minister said foreigners were to blame. >> translator: i support an culture which means if mistakes are made the mistakes are named. and if this happens openly, honestly and transparently, the analysis does indeed hit others, and that is what happened in this case. this has nothing to do with deportations, but rather to say we're the reasons for that night. >> reporter: the question of how

to deal with the issues raised by the numbers of refugees who have come to germany in recent years is growing ever louder. rival demonstrations were held in cologne's city center. one of around 300 supporters of a islamic group, won around 1300 opponents of the far-right group. and then another rally was held in an eastern city. although the numbers of followers pegida has is small, there are increasing numbers of people with more moderate views who are beginning to question the government's policy on refugees. the chancellor, angela merkel, as been at the forefront of those calling for tolerance and for germans and refugees to embrace the challenges of integration, but she has also said that refugees who commit crimes should face the full force of the law. >> translator: we know since the

terrible events that night in cologne that integration and openness in society, but the refugees need to be able to follow our rules and values as well. >> reporter: if there are to be tougher measures for asylum seekers, they will first need to happen here. we understand they are already discussing what practical solutions can be found. dominic kane, al jazeera, berlin. for a look at what is coming up at the top of the hour, john siegenthaler is here. >> hi tony. violence across the middle east. hundreds died today. how today's unrest will factor in the president's state of the union tomorrow. the capture of drug kingpin known as el chapo, we have seen the dramatic video, showing the intense fire fight. now he is behind bars against.

the u.s. wants to extradite him. will it happen. powerball fever at more than $1 billion it has the entire country talking, but for those dreaming the life of leisure, the chances of winning are nearly impossible. so why it's worth playing, and does the whole concept play on the poor. also remembering an icon, david bowie. i'll talk to ge smith about how bowie gave him his big break. and what it was like to be around a man many called a genius. the supreme court appears likely to rule against unions venning nearly 10 million public sector members. al jazeera's courtney keeley reports >> i stand with rebecca, do you. >> reporter: backers of rebecca and nine other teachers who are

suing the california teacher's association, the state's largest union, gathered outside the supreme court monday. they want the court to overturn a four decade's old precedent that allows public employee unions to charge fees to non-members to cover what it costs to bargain on behalf of employees. the plaintiffs say paying those fees violates their first amendment right to freedom of speech. prounion demonstrators argue a ruling in favor of the teachers would unravel decades of progress. inside the court typical lines were drawn on the bench, all allay -- justice kegan said: the surprise came from conservative justice scalia. court observers suspected he

might lean in favor of the unions. his questions indicate otherwise. the supreme court had 80 minutes to listen to arguments, 20 minutes beyond the usual 60. the decision won't be made until june, but this case one of the largest on the docket this year, could deliver a punishing blow to public sector unions across the country. rebecca has taught for 20 years, but she says her voice was silenced. >> the unions forced me to fund collective bargaining efforts that are harmful to my students, and that's offensive to me. >> our position is that those fees are fair, because the union provides a wide range of services from which all of the members benefit, and that that is constitutional.

>> reporter: the union argues that the so-called fair-share fee is simply a user fee for services, and has nothing to do with politics left or right. courtney keyly, al jazeera, washington. up next, a look back at the life and legacy of an icon of rock.

♪ ground control to major tom >> millions of fans today are remembers david bowie. he died of cancer just two days after turning 69. fans left candles and flowers at a memorial.

ines ferre looks at his life and influential career. ♪ while color lights up your face ♪ >> reporter: david bowie transcended styles and repeatedly reinvented himself over five decades. born david jones he rose to international fame with the 1969 single "space odddy" ♪ now i'm time to leave the capsule if you dare ♪ >> reporter: he took pop in a new direction with ziggy stardust. >> it he brought a vision at a time it was dull. and brought a whole artistic range of ability to being a pop star or being a rock star.

>> reporter: and took on iconic roles in movies also. bowie was inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame in 1986 in an interview he acknowledged what his ever-changing image meant for his music. >> most people get to 20 and then they stay 20. it didn't happen for me, though. i just went on and on and on, and suddenly i'm 56. so i have to write from this unique perspective of somebody who never stopped being 20. but i went on. isn't that weird? >> reporter: on his 69th birthday he released his 25th studio album, "black star." his death gives new meaning to the song "lazarus." he died after an 18-month battle with cancer.

his son writing on twitter very sadz to say it's true. david cameron called bowie a master of invention. >> and that is all of our time. thanks for being with us. i'm tony harris. john siegenthaler is back right now. >> we begin with the challenges facing president obama as he prepared for tomorrow's state of the union address. it will be his last and it comes at a time when american's foreign policy is being questioned especially in the mid-ing east. in iraq isil is claiming responsibility for several attacks, including one at a baghdad mall. in all 52 people were killed. in syrian russian war plains are suspected of bombing a school in aleppo. the russian defense ministry