become president of the united states than president of a hollywood studio. >> we are certainly going to be keeping an eye on that in the lead up to the oscars as we are on all the stories in our bulletin. anger and frustration over the water crisis in flint, michigan, the growing calls for the governor to step down. economic slowdown, china suffers its weakest growth in 25 years. it could slow down the entire world's economy. >> begging for acknowledgment or even asking diminishes dignity. protesting the oscars, why jada pinkett-smith and others are sitting out this year's

academy awards. in just a few hours, michigan's governor will make his latest statement about the water crisis in flint, delivering his state of the state address. and today, more national guard troops are delivering bottled water and filters where the water is undrinkable and dangerous. the governor will discuss that during his speech as more residents call for his resignation. we are live in flint. good morning to you, andy. what has been the governor's role in all of this and really, what's his plan to fix it? >> the plan to fix it is just to fix the water pipes, but who knows how long that could take. surface the blame, the governor

himself pushed a law a few years back called the emergency management law allowing him to appoint city managers in these very financially troubled cities like flint to have absolute power over the city. it's that decision that made the decision to clang the water supply that led to this mess. the governor will be giving his state of the state address tonight in lansing, michigan, but he himself will be getting an earful. >> the red cross is in full fledged crisis mode going block by block knocking on doors, seeing who nodes bottled water and just about everyone does. >> thank you again. >> the mood here is just as bitterly cold as the weather. >> i'm not sure what to make of it and i'm pretty sure i can't say on t.v. what i really think of it, but we're afraid. we're very afraid. we don't know what damage has been done to us. >> governor rick snyder apologized again for the crisis

but in a series of tweets, the governor also took aim at some of the presidential candidates, accusing them of politicizing the crisis. he pointed out remarks clinton made on sunday. >> i said it was outrageous that the governor hadn't reacted and within two hours, he had. >> we don't know what to do, the governor has given us this and that and whatever else, but it's -- we're still here, you know, we're still hurting and we still need a lot more help. >> as people scrambled monday to get cases of water from the national guard, they are still feeling the effects. >> you will start itching and having problems. >> the national guard set up in fire stations around the city can't even keep track of the number of cases of water it's doled out. >> i was very surprised at the amount of bottled water that's on the ground, the amount of filters, how fast they're

getting here, and, you know, how fast they're going out. drew marsh is a flint resident, so moved by the crisis, he just joined the volunteers on monday. >> some of them just don't know where to go. some don't even watch the news. >> the residents wonder how long this crisis will go on. >> it's terrible. we live in america. >> everyday, the national guard, state police, red cross are rolling out thousands of cases of water. just a few minutes ago, here at city hall, another convoy of trucks went out. this is an ongoing every day operation until this problem gets involved. >> what kind of help is flint getting from the federal government beyond the national guard? >> there's an emergency declaration that president obama signed that frees up $5 million for the city to help in this effort, but fema turned down the declaration of disaster, saying that for it to be a disaster, it would have to be a flood or

hurricane. the governor could likely appeal that. that's a ditches of tens of millions of dollars. >> wow, all right, andy live in flint this morning, thank you. earlier on your world this morning, our own del walters talked to curt guyette with the american civil liberties union. he helped uncover the crisis and said there is a cover up that has to be investigated at the highest levels. >> this would have never happened in the rich white suburb. this happened because flint was a financially stressed city that was taken over by the state. democracy was eliminated in flint. the local elected officials had no real authority. all of the authority was in the hands of a singling appointed emergency manager who was put in place by the governor, so it just never would have happened there, but i think -- and then that's compounded by the fact that there were no checks and balances. you had the governor's appointed

emergency manager making this decision or maybe even the governor's office, the governor still won't say if they are involved in the decision or not and then you have the governor's department of environmental quality that's supposed to be there overseeing things to make sure they're done correctly and they were complicit in the coverup. >> in your opinion, is it what is happening in flint, michigan a crime? >> yes, people were poisoned, and the state knew that there was a problem and that they denied that there was a problem when they knew there was one, and so records were falsified. i think -- i should not get ahead of myself. i think that what we need is adequate investigation to determine with certainty if there were crimes and then if there were, they should be prosecuted. >> he also says there is already

a federal probe but he thinks the legislature should be holding hearings and putting people under oath. stocks in the u.s. are up this morning despite a slowing economy in china. beijing says economic growth fell 6.9% last quarter, the lowest rate in 25 years. stocks in shanghai were up today but plunged in recent weeks to near historic lows and worries in china are leading to a warning from the worldwide i.m.f. >> the i.m.f. is talking about the entire economy. when you look at their latest projections, there are grounds for optimism and encouragement in some areas and grounds for pessimism in others. it's a more nuanced picture, if you like. on the pessimistic side, that is .2% less than they were predicting just three months ago, back in october, so they

are trimming their estimate. they believe that the rate of growth in china will carry on slowing down in 2016, 2017, and this will have enormous global consequences. they predict a very bleak picture in latin america, seeing the brazilian economy contracting 3.5% this year. they see problems for big oil exporters, of course, countries like angola and nigeria in sub saharan africa, but elsewhere are more optimistic. here in the west in the developed world, they see a modest recovery continuing, countries like britain, even spain caught up in the euro zone crisis, their economy's growing by 2% and the united states economy continuing to do relatively well over the next couple of years, so it is a mixed picture. this year's rocky start to the markets has seen almost

$4 trillion wiped off the books worldwide. iran is $32 billion richer this morning. that's the value of asset that is will be unfrozen now that sanctions are being lifted over iran's nuclear program. at the same time, five americans were also freed in a prisoner swap. now those americans are telling their stories. >> jason rezaian's wide smile said it all, free after 544 days in an iranian prison. the washington post journalists, his wife, mother and brother together at the u.s. military's medical facility in germany. doctors are evaluating his health and those are two other freed americans, former marine amir hekmati held four years, and christian pastor saeed adedini, whose wife touted his release on twitter.

they were let go after a year of secret negotiations. jason rezaian said he was feeling good milli, his brother has been a tireless advocate for his release. >> he was held nearly in solitary to know finement, one person in the room with him. it's really going to be a process not just to get back to spending time with people. >> a fourth iranian american opted to stay in iran and a fifth, a student was released separately on saturday. >> he's looking forward to coming home and having some serious ham burgers and things like that. >> in iran, the head of the international atomic agency who will monitor the nuclear agreement with iran met with penalty rouhani. benjamin netanyahu, who has been sharply critical of the deal said his government will keep a close watch on ires compliance. >> the u.s. is keeping close watch, even as the obama administration this weekend

lifted sanctions relating to the nuclear deal, it imposed new sanctions on companies and individuals involved with iran's ballistic missile program. >> on the presidential campaign trail, republicans applauded the release of the americans but blasted mr. obama for cutting a deal that included dropping charges against some iranian americans for violating sanctions against iran. >> you look at this new iran deal which took forever to get done, you look at how bad said and one sided it is. >> the families of those released, though, say they are just happy to have their loved ones free, as ali put it, congress told the penalty to use everything at his disposal to bring the americans home. al jazeera, washington. we have breaking news to bring to you. just in from the supreme court, the justice have agreed to take a case challenging the penalty's executive action on immigration.

it would have shielded 5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation before a lower court and an appealles court both put the plans on hold. to iraq, an operation is underway to find three missing americans. the u.s. contractors were taken hostage at an apartment in the dora section of baghdad. witnesses said gunmen in military uniforms carried out the kidnapping in broad daylight just 100 yards from a police station. no one has claimed responsibility for the abductions. another search underway in hawaii for 12 missing marines. coast guard teams off oahu find life rafts but still no signs of the marines. all 12 disappeared when two helicopters on a training mission crashed. california is bracing for more rain after scenes like this on monday. heavy rain leading to landslides, they washed out roads and overflowed creeks.

here in the northeast, it's another day of frigid temperatures, even though the sun will be shining across much of the region, temperatures will barely get above freezing. those bitterly cold temperatures are not going away anytime soon. let's bring in nicole mitchell. no good news on those temperatures just yet. >> it's deceiving, you look outside, sunshine and you get in it, it feels totally different especially once you get the wind. it's not just the cold, but the wind. minus five is an improvement, but the core that have cold air shifted eastward. parts of florida there were places that made it below freezing and we're going to be very slow to warm up during the course of the day. yod a in the wind, the place really feeling kind of the coldest morning this morning in terms of especially wind chills on top of all of it, look at the northeast, a lot of temperatures going negative, so not as cold also that mass that had hit the

midwest but definitely some of the coldest temperatures of the season. a a lot of 20s on the eastern coastline and 30's southward versus 40's, 50's, 60's on the west coast. that is going to keep this next system, more rain, it's going to be i higher elevations, the northern sierra will see the snow but otherwise a big contrast. another system is creating snow in the midwest south of the great lakes later today and also still some lake effect that's cranking up. in terms of the snow, watch for one to four inches anywhere from places like missouri through kentucky through the course of the day today. the big system we're watching, the potential for something developing friday, trekking up the coastline for friday and saturday. depending where it is, there will definitely be snow, but how much is in question, how much wind ruling with it. >> i'm looking forward to snow. when you got those trig

temperatures, just give us the result. >> you want to play in it at very least. getting the handle on an illness putting babies at risk. what you need to know about the zika virus now that the first case has been diagnosed in the u.s. >> pushing back on the academy, actors are skipping out on the oscars and not just because their names are not on the nomination list. stay with us.

a warning today about traveling overseas for pregnant women or women who plan to get

pregnant. the zika virus is leading to birth defects and has been found in the u.s. >> american women planning to get pregnant are told to talk with their doctors before traveling to latin america and the caribbean where mosquitoes are spreading the zika virus. distraught mothers are holding babies born with smaller than normal heads, a sign of a condition that leads to brain damage. >> in december, we had about 1,000 cases, suspect case, now we've just heard last week it's been 3,000 reports. >> last week, the first known case in the u.s. was diagnosed in hawaii. the child's mother traveled to brazil and the virus is spreading so fast, disease experts predict infected mosquitoes could reach texas within three months. the c.d.c. recommends travelers to at least 14 latin american countries wear long sleeves and avoid mosquito whites.

the brazilian health minister agrees. >> the foreigner who comes to brass still is in the same situation, they should take all the necessary measures not to come in contact with a mosquito because it can bite and carry the virus and all the precautions might not be enough because the problem is extremely serious. >> the brazilian army has been called in to combat the disease. the government announced it will direct funds to help develop a vaccine against the virus. >> the founding dean of the national school of tropical medicine at baylor college told us earlier that there are several reasons zika could spread here in the u.s. a big one is because of the warm tropical or sub tropical climate.

also that we have two mosquito species capable of transmitting zika virus on the gulf coast, certainly in texas going across to florida, and then you have a third factor that not many people talk about but which i think is very important and that is poverty, especially extreme poverty. we have a lot of poor people on the gulf coast and when you drive through poor areas of the dilapidated housing, people without window screens or holes in their screens without air conditioning, more exposed to mosquito bites. you see garbage piled up in these poor communities. there's environmental degradation that allows mosquitoes to breed. you see discarded tires on the side of the road. it looks like the world health movies you show to medical students, but it's right here in america. >> scientists have only found one strain of the zika virus so far, making it easier to pinpoint a possible vaccine. donald trump is campaigning in iowa today after appealing to evangelicals monday. he delivered the convocation at the virginia christian college launched by the late jerry

falwell. he referred to a book of the bible saying two corinthians instead of corinthians ii. >> if you look at that's going on throughout the world, you look at syria where there if you're christian, they're topping off heads. you look at the different places and christianity, it's under siege. i'm a protestant, i'm very proud of it. presbyterian to be exact, but i'm very proud of it, very very proud of it and we've got to protect, because bad things are happening. >> trump was once leading with conservative evangelical voters in the polls but that support has slipped in favor of ted cruz. that's eggs specially true in iowa, which holds its caucuses in less than two weeks. for the second time this month, a plant in the midwest faces anger from muslim workers who have to decide whether they change the way they pray or lose

their jobs. the company says it's about money, not religion. each day in between assembling snow blowers and lawn mowers at a plant in wisconsin, 53 muslim employees would stop twice each shift to pray. on january 14, the company said while employees will still be allowed to use prayer rooms in the plant, they will only be allowed to use them during two company scheduled 10 minute breaks. i have been 35 years in america. i've never heard of company that is not allowing its employees to pray five minutes. that it is absolutely discrimination on its face. muslim employees at the company say designating a set time for their prayer doesn't work for them, since under reege rules, the time changes every day. if someone tells you you pray on your break and the break time i guess not the prayer time, it

would be impossible to break. >> company c.e.o. said he heard complaints from non-muslim workers that muslims at the plant were getting special attempt treatment. he says allowing the extra two breaks her shift would mean shutting down production for those breaks, which could cost the company a million dollars each year. the company said 43 of the 53 muslim employees don't plan returning to work unless he reverses course. the employees say they were essentially fired. >> they say if you guys, you don't pray the break time, they give us this paper and then just to leave. >> no one was terminated. we were showing them what their options might be in the event they voluntarily chose not to come back to work. saying no to oscar, the big names who plan to stay away from the awards ceremony, coming up.

this morning, there are growing calls for a boycott of the academy awards. for the second straight year, there i guess not a singling and gottor of color nominated in the lead or supporting roles. >> the nominees are... >> the oscars are just about a month away, but the buzz isn't about who's nominated but who isn't. the frustration over the lack of diversity leading to a full fledged boycott by some of the industry's biggest names.

spike lee and jada pinkett-smith both saying they won't attend this year's ceremony. >> begging for acknowledgment or even asking diminishes dignity and diminishes power and we are a dignified people and we are powerful and lets not forget it. >> her husband, will smith was passed over for his role in concussion. >> what are you doing here? >> along with idris elba in beast of no nation and creed's michael b. jordan. spike lee blames the hollywood studio system saying the real battle is in the executive offices where the gate keepers decide what gets made and what gets jetsoned. his film chiraq was also passed over. there was a nomination for an all white writing team.

it is said the controversy reflects a wider problem. >> the fact that the motion picture industry, like so many other institutions is very slow to change, not a very diverse institution. you have a situation where essentially white males are dominating the industry. >> the president of the academy also expressed frustration over the lack of diversity, promising to take action to alter the makeup of the group's membership. >> we are working inside the academy in order to make sure we have inclusion and especially in the area of membership. >> that may not be enough come oscar night when a lot of potential viewers will boycott watching the show. al jazeera, new york. the last time an african-american won for a leading actor role was in 2006, that was forest whitaker in the last king of scotland.

the last and only african-american best actress winner was halle barry for monster's ball. it amay have caused the leg to buckle and the rocket to explode. elon musk said the root cause could have been ice that built up from the heavy fog at liftoff. this was the fourth failed landing test for that rocket. if you're a morning person, starting this week, you'll be able to see the planet mercury before sunrise. all five visible planets will be observable in the sky together for the first time in more than a decade. you can already see the other four, venus, saturn, mars and jupiter. that does it for us here in new york. thanks for watching. the news continues live next from doha. have a great day.

this is al jazeera. ♪ hello, welcome to the news hour. i'm jane dutton, live from our headquarters in doha. the u.n. raises the alarm about civilian deaths in iraq. saying the level of violence has been staggering. libya's rival political factions announce the arrival of a long-awaited unity government. and what new growth numbers mean for china and its global business