♪ this is "al jazeera live." another big drop for the do you jones and the price of oil. who is to blame? the military names names for the mistaken anthrax shipment. one man is brain dead. others hospitalized after a drug trial goes wrong. asking for help, the michigan governor wants a federal disaster declared over flint's water crisis.

>> u.s. stocks down nearly 391 points today. the first two weeks of 2016 have been devastating for wall street. it is tied to the plunging price of oil. the world hasn't seen such cheap oil in more than a decade. >> that's putting all kind of pressure on countries and economies that rely on petroleum production. john explains the downside. >> who would have believed we would talk about this story in u.s. stole off because wall street is worried too many commodity companies will go belly-up now that oil is in the bargain basement. >> at the new york stock exchange, a sea of red driven by

an ocean of black. cr crude oil so cheap and plentiful investors are scared the low price will damage the global economic recovery. >> a terrible start to the day, terrible start to the year. the selling is universal. today, the stocks that have done so well last year were up a lot more than the average. >> the world has too much oil. it's a glut. that's why it's so cheap. while that helps consumers, it's devastating for the economies of countries trying to produce it. over production by saudi arabia opened the spigot to hobble iranian oil that will start flowing soon once sanctions are lifted. saudis seem keen to get one over on the united states, retaliation for facilitating the nuclear deal with tehran. while the saudi economy can take low prices for a couple of years, that's not true of other oil producers like nigeria where the economy has been hurt by cheap oil and wants an emergency

meeting of the opec. >> you can see the problem, far too many companies at risk of going under. >> the markets are telling you it's a reasonable risk that money was so easy by central banks for so long that companies got money, were able to borrow money that shouldn't ven been able to and now the economics are changing, might not be able to pay that money back. >> is there a perfect price point for oil that would keep motorists happy but not risk global recession? >> nobody knows what the optimum price is but when you look at supply and demand, most think a price between 50 and $70 per barrel could work for everybody. >> so a bad day on wall street ahead of the u.s. long weekend coming up. martin luther king day on monday. one of the reasons there was so much selling because investors don't want to hold worthless pieces of paper on tuesday morning when they come back on wall street in case anything further happens in asia trading

and european trading, getting underway eastern time. >> all right. john terrett, thank you. the united states is not ready to lift economic sanctions against iran. washington says tehran's compliance with the nuclear deal has yet to be verified. white house price secretary josh earnest said while iran is making progress, the atomic energy agency needs to complete its inspection first. >> the leadership has made it quite clear that they are working aggressively to fulfill their end of the bargain and we certainly welcome the deal they are pursuing but we want to make sure they don't cut corners. that's why independent verification has been in some ways the key part of this agreement from the get-go, because there is, based on their

history a lot of ddistrust aboue way iran talks about their nuclear program. >> iran is expected to receive $10,000,000,000 of assets in overseas accounts when sanctions are lifted. the situation to tell you about, gunmen have taken hostages at a hotel in the country'stol. security forces are in a battle with attackers in the hotel that's a portion location with foreigners. gunmen stormed the hotel, burned cars into thet to drive back crowds. the group affiliated with al-qaeda is claiming responsibility. a curfew has been imposed. unicef workers witnessed the death of a starved 16-year-old boy while a 17-year-old remains in critical condition. this comes as aid workers have been allowed to the area controlled by the syrian government. al jazeera has more.

bombs and guns come and go. hunger has been constants for many in this town. not first time in months, people are getting outside help, truckloads of food, medicine and doctors are streaming in. for many people, it's too late. community workers say hunger has killed more than 30 people in the past month. >> children in need, cases of malnutrition. we saw such cases ourselves and hoped we could get them out to be taken care of in our centers that will require permission from those who cut off access. until now, it has been hard to verify activist videos that accuse the government of deliberately starving its portion. it's the same government that is now allowing foreign aid workers

in. what they found may be evidence of war crimes by both the government and by the rebels. >> the elderly and children, men and women who are little more than skin and bones. severely malnourished, so weak they could barrel walk and utterly desperate. >> more trucks full of wheat flower head to two shia villages, this time, held by rebel groups. their people are said to be starving. while there may be finally, some relief from hunger, it's not clear if those who let them starve will ever be punished. al jazeera. >> meanwhile, the united nations security council met today calling for emergency aid to be allowed to reach the starving in syria. al jazeera james bays has more on what became a really heated meeting.

>> when the u.n. deputy, humanitarian chief, was briefing the security council, the new deputy ambassador of syria, a figure not very well known in new york and many of the diplomats and many of the other observers didn't recognize him straight away. he has just spoken. it was interesting because it was so different from everything else that we heard from so many of the diplomats that spoke before him about the appalling situation. he accused some of those involved, and i am sure he is talking about some of the diplomats from some of the western kuntz tries, particularly the representatives of the u.s., the u.k. and france which called this meeting, a politicization and double standards. he said that they were using suffering for political purposes, which was interesting, considering we heard the humanitarian, deputy humanitarian chief and we heard the u.n. secretary general

saying, also, including the syrian government which had a primary responsibility to protect syrians were using food and medicine and delivery of those as a we hope of war. >> that's james bays from the united nations. the indianesian authorities have killed a suspected isil reporter a day after is i will suicide bombers and gunmen killed seven people in the capital, jakarta. police said the 3 were not directly involved in the attack. indian easians are vowing not to live in fear. there was no sign of fear at the site of the attack after five men came here armed with guns and explosives. instead, people came to the area outside the shopping mall in jakarta for a peace rally. >> we are united that indonesia

is a multi-cultural place and because of that, it's not ease to shake us. >> it's too early for defiance for family members of those caught up in the violence. the names of the injured are listed outside hospitals. visiting increases in security but this sprawling city has largely returned to normal. >> there has been a defendant regression of this attack by indonesians, particularly on social media with hash tags like brave jakarta and "we're not afraid". >> ebby had been cooking satay on the streets for 10 years. he says he refuses to be scared away. >> i am a bit concerned because the attack is close to me. but there is nothing i can do. if jo work, what can i do? the solidarity that has been shown in a relatively short space in time since the attack is something people in jakarta say they haven't seen before. >> this is a mark of defiance.

we want to show that we are not afraid with all of the intimidation. that's why you see an outpouring that is not coordinated. people are just out here. >> there will be nervousness that there could be more to come. but for now, the people here say they won't be defeated. wayne bays, jakarta. >> the search continues off of the coast of hawaii this evening. two u.s. marine helicopters collided. six were aboard each aircraft at the time. the debris field was spotted earlier today. but so far, there have been no signs of any of the missing servicemen. the navy, coast guard and air force are involved in the search with assistance from honolulu's fire department. a u.s. general is one of 12 people facing discipline for allowing anthrax to be sent around the world.

courtney, i need you to square something for me here. the report called this a serious breach. but at the same time says there was never any threat to the public. explain that for me. >> okay. well, tony, i can tell you that there was no threat to the public because the anthrax vials were small, wrapped, being delivered by federal express actually but they weren't -- they were in liquid form they weren't going to be ingested. like i said, though, like we have said, 12 people could be facing disciplinary action and for all of these shipments, 575 in total count, tony. >> for more than a decade live anthrax ended up at federal labs in every state in the u.s. and nine countries overseas, going back to at least 2004. after a six-month investigation into how live an anthrax was shipped out from the army bio

defense, the army's bio tax force found no single event? >> no groups of individuals are directly responsible for the inadvertent shipment of a small amount of active an anthrax. >> it cited a culture of complacancy, leaders who failed to take action to pass miss handicaps and workers who failed to exercise due care in the performance of their duties. it recommended 12 people, including the brigadier general who led the lab from 2009 to 2011 be held accountable. the secretary of the army will ultimately decide if anyone will lea lose their jobs. last summer, the pant gone said the lab failed to e raid yacht the spores properly and screening tests detected spores of live anthrax. the one protocol that did work required only minute be shipped and in a liquid form that can't be inhaled.

examples were so small, even if someone were exposed, they wouldn't get sick, and no one did, but the report calls for more standardized and scientifically valued testing to keep it from ever happening again. >> we will establish a standing dod biological safety review panel consisting of prominent scientists from within and outside of the department. >> will review and validate those working with toxins. >> to square that for you once again, the public wasn't in danger from those 575 live toxins shipd across the country. that the number was according to the c.d.c., but as one scientist put it in testimony to congress, what was being shipped by fedex to these locations mainly was seed stock for biological weapons potentially, tony. >> got you, courtney keeley is

at the pentagon for us. thank you. the occupation at an oregon national wildlife refuge is heading into the third week. today the group protesting federal land policies and hope to meet with residents but that didn't work out. al jazeera has more. >> reporter: two full weeks into the armed occupation of federal buildings in a wildlife refuge in haern county, oregon, and the friction grows between the protesters and local officials. the mayor of burn with a population of about 2700? >> it's time to go home. we would like to see you leave our community and so we can get our lives back to normal. recall ready for you to go. please do that. we have gotten used to the daily theatre of protests. the defiance: come and get us

stance. they said they wanted to meet with the community in burn to outline an exit strategy. the county judge refused to allow them to use the community hall as a fair ground. the site of last week's emotional community gathering. >> what was wrong it with that decision not to allow us to have a public meeting? it infringed upon my constitutional rights of free speech and my right of assembly. i don't think that was an honest and fair thing to do. >> he his job over the judge's refusal to grants meeting space. another split in an already fractured community as it tries to find ways to communicate with the protesters. >> i go to the meetings here and

that's 100%. okay? and the meetings, i heard there was a third that said you guys need to get out of dodge and a third that said we like what you are doing. not liking your method but we want you to go and about a third said, don't go. stay. let's talk about a republic. it's the right of the individuals that we are looking at, not the right of the collective. >> plans for a public meeting hosted by the occupiers are hold saturday marks the beginning of a third week since the takeover at the refuge. >> hnot been confirmed. also, there may be folks in town who are glad the meeting didn't come together. tony, tonight, starwars debut the at the only theatre. >> shut down rest of the city. is there a way that you can see that anyone is suggesting to you that brings it this situation to

ab end? >> nots much is changed until they get talking and can communicate to the community exactly what they have in mind. it's going to be very difficult and we should mention, we had our first arrest in this incidents today as well. a couple of gentlemen from the refuge here went into town to get supplies but they went in, in government vehicles, fish and wildlife vehicles. those vehicles had previously been reported stolen. one man was arrested in a grocery store parking lot. one of the spokesmen here said, yeah, somebody made a bad decision. they should have taken their own truck into town. >> yeah. all right. alan schaufler. up next, a medical trial that went honorable wrong. what left six people in critical condition and what french officials are saying about it and the case has sparked a new ebola square in africa. back in a moment.

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sxwrvrnling in france, mounting questions about a drug trial that went draft rudid i see aft the rusly wrong. more on the investigation now underway. >> it was a clinical trial that went badly wrong. now, with one person declared brain dead and five others in hospital, the french health minister has ordered an investigation. >> the families are devastated. we will make sure they are given all of the answers, as right

now, i am not aware of any comparable case. what has happened is unprecedented and requires the greatest possible investigation. >> the drug was being tried at this private clinic in western france. it was meant to act on the body's area that feels pain. >> the condition of the other patients got worse over the first few days and today 4 of the 5 others have neurological problems of varying gravity. one did not have any symptoms. >> a lawyer for the victims says there was clearly some kind of error or oversight. >> how come in 2016 with all means we have, such an accident can happen. at this moment action i have unfortunately no idea. had there been a defendant human hour, i can't believe in the coincidence in circumstances. >> dozens more got smaller doses of the substance. they are being asked to undergo

a brain scan to make sure they have not been harmed. nadine barber, al jazeera. we are learning more about the latest case of sierra leone. health officials in three towns are isolating more than two dozen people who came in contact with a woman who died there yesterday. hours after the world health organization declared sierra leone ebola free. >> it has been two months since the tiny area was declared ebola free. an investgate is underway. we have support from the international partners. they have done preliminary investgations. they have been able to identify about 27 contacts who are now isolated. >> but it's not clear how

thevirus re-emerged and stresses the deadly disease has continued since the country was declared ebola free. it's normal for flare-ups to occur and people can get too relaxed too soon. here on the streets of freetown, the currentree's capitol, people say they are concerned not just for themselves but for the entire nation. including for commercial bike riders? >> i am voeworried very much. he is concerned about the safety of his children. as sierra leone faces challenge, penaling are hoping the outbreak is a setback.

al jazeera, freetown. >> a rift in developing in the ang lick can church in a fight over marriage equality and gay rights, it pits the congregation against the pro-gay attitude of north american churches. al jazeera paul brennan has more now from england. >> a long way, these are devout ang lick can christians practicing the faith that was taught to them. on gauge marriage, they aren't sure what to believe any more. >> we are told in the olden days, it was not proper but now in today's life, they are falling into this.

in favor so far. >> the global church of 85 million worshippers is sharply split. the united states branch, the episcopal church supports gay marriage and an openly gay bishop. excluded from anglican doctorinal debate for the next three years. >> this has been a defendant disappointing time for many. there will be heartache and pain for many. we are still part of the anglican communion. >> protesters urged compassion the final communique from the clerics' summit condemns homophobia and rejects the criminalization of gay people but gay marriage is a fundamental departure from the faith and the episcopal church must take the consequences. >> the unity shown is going to be costly.

we have deep differences. it's going to be painful he said the episcopal church has acted unilaterally without waiting for a consention of the greater ang lick can communion. there is no under stating the deep split within the anglican church. archbishop will need a task group. traditionalists little scope of compromise. >> it's not to reflect necessarily the culture of the day a risk wider later this year when can ane yad angly cans are set to join the church for gay marriage. paul brennan, al jazeera. >> up next, chicago protest: why demonstrators are tarting the city's financial district and a plea for help. will the federal government jump in to help with the water

situation in flint, michigan

another day, another steep decline on wall street. the dow jones was off 390 points today. >> represents nearly two and a half percent of the market's value. financial markets in europe and asia were down as was the price of oil. we have been telling you that. crude is trading at less than 30 barrels a barely. it hasn't been that low since

2004. patty, how much of all of this selling off? where do we end today? where do we end? how much of this sell-off. >> how much of this is due to what's happening? >> oil, of course, is a big drag on the market since beginning of the year. it's a real negative. now, this is nothing new. we have known oil prices are going down for some time. now, the latest bit of bad news, if you will, that the marked latched on to today was iran is set come back on line make no mistake. we have seen this global glut in oil going on for some time. we have producers who are pumping with abandoned. what we saw today was oil below $30 a barely. it sets the stage for oil to keep on tumbling? >> really? you think it will go lower? >> a lot of analysts are calling

for it to go lower. when you cross that barrier, it triggers orders that go through the machines for trading but it's also a psychological level as well. it sets the stage for oil to keep going lower. a lot of analysts have been calling for oil as low as $20s dollars a barely. some even in the teens. >> i get why that is bad for oil producers. tell me why gas is cheaper. >> means i have more gas in my pocket. >> should be good news for me. is it? >> the problem is consumers don't appear to be spending that windfall of that's the really bad news. we had a reading on retail sales, they were down in december en though consumers are getting this windfall at the pump. >> that's bad news for the u.s. economy because as you know, two-thirds of u.s. economic growth is generated by kong assumer growth. we had news today that wal-mart is going to be closing more

stores we had news manufacturing was weekend in the northeast. this is a lot of bad news all collecting. it appears the u.s. economy is not the island that many economists thought it would be. >> people aren't spending what we are calling a windfall here because they are trying to de-leverage, trying to clean up their personal book. that's what's happening here? >> not only leveraging. that's been going on since 2008 but we should keep in mind that roughly two-thirds of american workers live paycheck to paycheck. what they will do is buy necessities like food and not putting other necessities on their credit card of the so we are not seeing it because america has not gotten a wage increase, a meaningful wage increase. what we are seeing now in the u.s. economy are deflationary pressures move in to other areas. commodity channels through oil prices but also because it hurts

manufacturing. >> i suppose in a roundabout, to the fed and the decision for the first time in two years to raise rates? >> yeah. >> is that having any kind of an impact? is the timing bad given what's happened? >> when the fed decided to hike interest rates, we are seeing that and the reason is, because monetary policy, if you raise interest rates t can be very effective at cooling off an economy that's overheating or heading off, you know, inflationary pressures that are down the road. so, the problem is, we are not seeing inflationary pressures. we are not seeing wage inflation. we are not seeing it in ma meaningful way and we are not seeing prizes rise. if anything what we have got now are deflationary pressures. >> patty, appreciate it.

thank you. a video showing a shooting of an unarmed teenager no man in the word in the hot seat, ro rom emanuel. live in chicago. andy? >> protest orders marching through the financial district. the city is digesting the release of another video showing an unarmed black teenager being shot by a chicago police officer in 2013 after he allegedly stole a car. the city fought hard to keep from releasing the video until

interruptly backing down this week. one big issue as it was in the mcdonald case is the testimony of the officers at the scene compared to what is seen in the video the attorney for his family says he was relying on what the shooter, officer kevin fry, said at the scene. mr. chapman was running down the street, pointed a black objects at the officers. >> brian says the video shows something different. chapman never looked back nat mad dash from the other officer and the chase lasted only seven seconds before chapman was shot by fry. chapman was found to be carrying a box for a cell phone. >> based on officer tote's deposition and testimony, he made the comment and testified at no point was he in fear of his life as mr. chapman was run away from him and he couldn't catch up with them. >> lorenz 0 davis, a former

police investigator for the city ruled the chapman shooting was not justified. he said he was told to change his findings and later, he was fired. >> people who are killed don't get a chance to tell a story. >> fry said in a statement thursday that the officers did act properly. about the only one who hasn't weighed in was rom emanuel. he led a prayer breakfast for martin luther king's birthday but that was met by more protests. >> the attorney there for patton's family says chapman's mother has never seen the video, never wants to see it but she is happy that it is out. the family's lawsuit against the city for wrongful death and excessive force will probably to go trial sometime in late summer. >> andy for us in chicago. thank you. the obama administration today imposed a moratorium on coal

mining on fred recall last to force -- federal land. mining and burning:of how to use the land. president obama proceeded to do more to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in his state of the union address this week. white house officials say it will act quickly to help with the water crisis in flint. the governor of michigan helped president obama to declare a state of emergency to free up more aid. the white house press secretary, josh earnest said several investigations are underway? >> the epa and the department of justice indicate they are taking a close look at this situation in terms of the science, in terms of the impact that it could have on local populations and the department of justice is taking a look at the decisions that led to this particular situation. >> so michigan's attorney general has also begun an investigation to see if any

state laws were violated. flint's water source was switched from detroit's water system from the flint river when the city was put undemerge emergency management. and flint is still without drinkable tap water. al jazeera's john hendren has our report. >> there you go. >> this city of 100,000 is one of the richest nations in the world has no potable water. >> michigan's governor deployed the national guard to deliver water testing kits for flint where tests found high levels of led. this is a crisis. that is something i apologize for in terms of the state's role in all of this. the real issue in front of us is how do we address it? how do we tack care of the people in flint? >> an unending stream of residents filed into sites around the city for the supply. >> folks, i don't know. we probably have enough here a

handful of troops with 32 were handed out bottled water where 40% live in poverty. >>ists really hearterned by the resiliency of the citizens of flint. i tell you, they had smiles on their face and obviously, this is not a good situation. but resilience see. >> detroit's water system in 2014 problems. >> i have never, very rarely even used the city water. >> you don't drink it? >> no. not at all. >> arlene turner told al jazeera in set up the water had left her with a rash. >> itch, scratch. she wants to know what took the city so long? >> lead and babies, now,

pregnant and baby might be defective. i have a problem with that issue. >> are you happy they are doing something now? >> yes. i am. >> 150 flint residents descended upon the capitol. >> environmentalists believe core on thissive water ate away at the city's lead pipes releasing lead into the system. they have gone back to detroit water but the damage to the pipe has been done. according to documents obtained by virginia tech university, the federal environmental protection agency knew about the water contamination in april and wrote a memo on the problem in june. john hendren, al jazeera, detroit. >> a gas leak outside of los angeles, the city of porter ranch has been going on for nearly four months now and after several failed attempts to plug the leak, officials fear the situation is only getting worse. al jazeera stephanie stan deny has the latest.

>> it's a rally cry that was loud and clear. environmental activists angry about the massive natural gas leak in porter ranch, california, have taken their cause straight to washington, d.c. >> dozens rally outside the environmental protection agency demanding the federal government step in and shut down the well permanently. >> we want the epa to demonstrate their authority to protect the residents of porter ranch by mandating this facility be shut down. >> socal gas first reported the leak on october 23rdrd. since that time, it has been spewing out some 50,000 cubic feet of methane gas and hydro car bons every day. the leak was captured by this infrared camera, the carbon footprint of 300,000 cars on the road in one year. >> the largest environmental disaster we have seen in the united states in my lifetime. much worse than the bp oil spill. this is on land in a pop 4r5i9d

community. >> new fears by state regulators seven failed attempts in recently weeks to plug the leak by pushing heavy mud into the broken pipe have made the damaged well more vulnerable. experts fear a total blowout? >> messing around with it so much after 80 days, now, the whole system has been weakened this they are not doing anything to stop it. >> a consultant to the public utilities commission on gas wells an their leaks. >> the whole area should have a concrete platform around the leaking we wi well so that they some stability because, frankly, it's a personal safety issue with anyone going on that site. >> the well is said to be exposed in a massive crater held in indicates by cables. governor jerry brown made a declaration of emergency,

something the city of los angeles did earlier. a request to interviews to socal gas on the potential blowout have not been answer. they did release a statement announcing new pending regulations on natural gas storage facilities. they include at least a daily inspection of storage well heads, regular testing of all safety values used in wells but the porter ranch well did not have. >> when you lose the wellhead structure, then it's pure uncontrolled gas coming through a 7-inch or larger diameter pipe without any. >> socal gas says it will continue to try to fix the leak but it could be as early as late march before the problem is fullly corrected. beleaguered residents and activists say that's far too late. >> i will not be happy until that entire facility is shut

down and those wells are either moved. >> the residents will never feel safe in their homes as long as that facility is in operation. >> stephanie stanton, porter ranch, california. >> next on the program, the birther movement inside the g.o.p. a new lawsuit leveling a constitutional question over ted cruz's birthplace. and how the race for the white house could have a major impact on the supreme court.

as the race for the white house deep earnings, politicians from both sides of the aisle are calling on ted cruz to apologize about a comment made by new york. they took turns condemning cruz today. david shuster has more. >> in new york city today which has a population of 8 and a half million people, the controversy ted cruz generated was hard to miss. it was the cover of the new york news "drop dead, cruz," the statue of liberty giving him the middle finger. >> i think his comments were highly offensive to new yorkers, highly offensive to all americans. >> the issue erupted in thursday night's debate. >> i think most people know exactly what new york values

are. >> the text as senator had been asked to explain what he meant when he said donald trump embodied new york values. >> there are many, many wonderful, wonderful working men and women in the state of new york. but everyone understands that the values in new york city are socially liberal or pro-abortion or pro-gay marriage, focused around money and the media. >> reporter: donald trump pounced? >> new york is a great place. it's got great people. it's got loving people. wonderful full people. when the world trade center came down, i saw something that no place on earth could have handled more beautifully, more humanely than new york. you had -- >> while cruz's applause may have been intended to blunt what was coming, it did not distract donald trump or stop him. >> we rebuilt downtown manhattan and everybody in the world watched, and everybody in the

world loved new york and loved new yorkers, and i have to tell you, that was a very insulting statement that ted made [applause.] >> top democrats agreed with trump. >> ted cruz insulted the people of new york. by the way, blatantly hypocritical on his part. he has come here plenty of times to gain money for his campaign from people in new york. >> top new york republicans were also infuriated. >> new york values are being tough, being patriotic, being strong, not panicking when there is a crisis and trying to help each other out. >> the question now is what impact will this have in iowa? the latest republican polls in the state indicated trump and cruz were running even, and while many midwesterners might think that new yorkers are loud and brash compared to the midwest's reputation for mod city and politeness, delivering an athrottlesive insult is generally a bad idea. >> previous iowa caucus races, for example, candidates who have

run harsh attack ads have seen their own support drop unlike other states in iowa, a certain civility is expected. then again, this year may be different. >> unbelievable stuff. you really do. they are just absolute bad people. >> donald trump has repeatedly made eye wans squirm with his attacks of the media and at rival candidates. in the end, insulting new yorkers may not matter very much: it's an issue ted cruz is injected into this cam payne two weeks before the iowa caucuses. david shuster, al jazeera. >> well, if the next president will have the power to draw change the direction of the nation in any number of ways but one will be spoinlting new supreme court justices. libbey case has more. >> reporter: 9 justices appointed for life. their influence lasts longer than when a white house ends. >> whoever controls the majority after the next presidency could

control it for 15 or 20 years before a seat is available. >> means we are talking about potentially two decades of what is possible in this country being decided by 2016. >> presidential candidates are talking about that potential power and influence. >> there are now, if any, issues that matter more in this presidential election than the supreme court, and what i can tell you is i have spent my entire life fighting judicial activi activism. there is no decision i would take more seriously than appointing a supreme court justice. >> the next president's timing could be especially significant. >> we need to recognize something that almost know attention to intellect which is in all probability the next president of the united states will make between one and three appointments to the united states supreme court. >> former president bill clinton appointed two justices, both during his first term.

two decades later, ruth bader ginsburg has risen to become this court's most powerful liberal voice. beginsburg is over 80. some of her colleagues aren't far from that milestone. >> scalia and concerned are 78 and 79 and briar is 77. several other justices are in their mid to late 60s. >> the george washington law school associate team, allen morrison says the 2016 election could give justices added incentive to stay on the bench. >> i can't imagine for example justice scalia retiring if anything a democrat is elected. on the other hand, justice beginsburg, if she can hang on, i am sure she will. i don't think she wants donald trump or ted cruz to appoint a successor. >> the roberts court has made controversial decisions with wide ranging effects from upholding president obama's signature healthcare law, to striking down limits on federal campaign donations. republican presidential cab dates are promising to nominate

conservative justices with an eye to issues like gun control and abortion and democrats sense an opportunity, too. >> so they are going to want the voting rights act back, citizens united with this money milhiser with the centre for american progress says .1 real danger, a divided senate unwilling to confirm the new president's choice for the bench. >> you are looking for the possibility is a vacancy opens up, a seat could sit open indefinitely until you have a unity between the party that controls the white house and the party that controls the senate. >> a reminder that the 2016 election is about more than who wins the presidency. it's also about which party wins seats in the senate. libby casey, al jazeera, wasn't. >> up next, christmas on the bayou, how louisiana is using old trees to save the coastline.

two weeks into the holiday season, christmas trees kicked to the curb. but as al jazeera's jonathan martin reports from louisiana, some trees are being put to good use. >> reporter: in new orleans, the season is changing from christmas to carnival but before the revelry comes community service . >> i am a member of a dance group called the organ grinders that was found in 2010, and not only do we do madi gras praised

but a large portion of what we do is philanthropic work. >> valerie is over one of over 50 christmas tree restoration project. they are delivered to a marina where volunteers recently spent a saturday morning to thing trees into a boat and placing them in to cribs built out of two by fours to create a marsh fall. >> with this wave energy striking these structures so it's not striking the shoreline. it allows the shoreline to grow into a marsh. >> the project is focused on two miles of shoreline in part of the bassin, the fattest eroding basin in the united states losing a football land field of land every hour to combat coastal erosion. >> we need large scale projects. there is no doubt about it. our challenges are daunting. we need the saidiment from the mississippi river, pump that and

build up the land. we need to use that river to sustain it. we also need smaller projects as well. >> community involvement is needed as well. the program doesn't have a budget so it relies on volunteers including residents and the local fire department to provide boats in the go 6th year, the program has recycled 750,000 trees and built several lines of shoreline structures protecting hundreds of acres of shoreline. >> as long as you can maintain these structures and it gives the shoreline a chance. >> every year, we lose miles of coast land due to coastal erosion. so, you know, in the 100 years or so, we want to have a significant portion of the state of louisiana. we have to have projects like this to protect and save the coast land and all of the vegetation and aquatic life that comes with it. >> jonathan martin, al jazeera, jefferson parish, louisiana.

>> that's all of our time. thanks for being with us. i am tony harris. john seeingigenthaler is back w more of the day's news. >> another big sell-off on wall street. the do you fell more than 390 points. all three major indexes were down more than two%. the main culprits for today's drop, falling oil prices. crude oil closes blow $30 per barely, lowest since 2003. here is that story. john. >> john, good evening, stocks sold off across the board on friday because wall street is worried too many commodity companies will go belly up now that oil is in the bargain basement. at the timat the new york stock, global economic