>> good evening i'm antonio mora, this is al jazeera america. another troubling day for stock markets, the role played by oil prices and china's economy. also: >> the warmest year on record. by a sizable amount. >> american scientists sounding the alarm about the earth's climate in 2015. the dangerous impact it had across the u.s. and the world. plus. >> you don't regain trust within a matter of seconds because a statement was made. >> political anger and blame in flint michigan, and the financially strapped city's water supply.

>> a newly discovered planet in our solar system. wednesday's wall street selloff isn't having much of an impact on asian markets what are mostly up on what's thursday there. the dow fell more than 250 points but for a while it was much uglier, down over 500 points. many blame falling oil prices for the drop. crude oil dropped to its lowest level in nearly 13 years. john terret joins us and expectations are that prices are going to keep dropping. >> i think that's a safe bet, antonio, especially that iran is going to start pumping with international sanctions lifted and that will add to the glut of oil in the world and that's driving the price so low right

now that it risks the global economy that's the problem. >> falling oil prices and no end in sight, what sparked a rocky day, oil prices led the way, closing down 2%, the reason the price of crude oil falling below $27 a barrel the lowest it's been since 2003. >> we have a absolute glut of i'll and put it in simple terms, say four times the supply and one, one and a half, two times the demand. anyone can say that's not good. >> while it helps in short term it's devastating for countries trying to produce oil. china's demand for oil is reduced while saudi arabia floods the markefloods the marke crude. and iran will soon start pumping because of the nuclear deal and

sanctions removed. nigeria where the economy is being hurt by cheap oil. >> the straw that is going to break the camel's back, we eat our way through some of these stock piles and we have tankers sitting out in the ocean full of oil waiting for someplace to put it. >> commodity players, looking to make fast money, royal bank of scotland said, basically, sell everything and put it in safer investments. pummeled markets may be around for a while until the price of oil bottoms out. >> we're going to have to see a global pickup in growth really would be the kicker but you know what, that doesn't look to be happening any time soon, hence the stock market is going down the worst two weeks we've had in history. >> there are markets, china's weakening economy, our own tepid

recovery, but oil is the key issue right now. one sector benefiting by the way the american airline industry which tells us it's paying up to a dollar less than it was this time last year. but no cheaper seats. >> thank you john. the finding from nasa and noaa, the national oceanic and atmospheric association. the news reinforces already overwhelming evidence of global warming. as jake ward shows us, more extremely weather is possible. if it continues in this direction. >> antonio we all knew there would be surprises in today's flowment. 2015 was a very strange year when it came to weather but what scientists announced today was truly unprecedented. millions of acres of forest land burned to a crisp. rain so severe bridges and roads were washed away. billions of dollars in damage.

these are just a few of the effects of strange and severe weather, in the u.s. and around the world, last year. >> the 2015 was the warmest year on record. by a sizable amount. >> 2015 set a terrible new standard for the planet. shattering records. warmer even than 2014 which had been the hottest year on record. >> if you look at the surface temperature record which goes back to 1880 you notice that 15 of the 16 warmest years have all occurred since 2000. this tells you that something is happening. it tells you that climate is warming and this is due to the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. >> the united states was hit especially hard. according to noaa, national oceanic and atmospheric association, 2015 was the second warmest year and the third wettest year since record keeping began in 1865.

hotter temperatures are also causing havoc around the world. last year cyclone chipala was the first hurricane strength storm to make landfall in yemen in recorded history. india lost 200 dead, in heat wave that saw temperatures above 118° fahrenheit. hottest june to august time in record. >> if you study the paleo climate, other times not as warm but we are at one of the warmest periods for the past one or 2 million years now. >> el nino may be partly to blame for balmy temperatures in december, warming air from the oceans to the air. >> as the atmosphere warms the atmosphere can hold more water

vapor, this is why we are seeing a greater frequency of heavier rains and heavier snowfalls. >> the question now is whether 2016 will break records again. now antonio there has been a lot of talk in this political season that that old saw that somehow global warming has been on hiatus that it has slowed down some way, that was actually blown away from today's announcement. scientists from both agencies made a point that global warming is accelerating, we're seeing it get worse and worse and they say in all likelihood, 2016 is going to break even more records and really the effects, their math, everything about it we're sorting entering unknown territory and that's really alarming thing about today's news antonio. >> jake ward in advance. the national weather service says heavy crippling weather is

heading to the northeast. these pictures were from cli and at least one driver died in snowy road conditions in kentucky. kevin corriveau joins us. >> now looking at another wurp coming on the heels of the storm it is going to be much bigger a lot more snow, much more impact with what we are going to be seeing. that is coming down here through the gulf coast first and tomorrow we're going to be seeing a lot of rain, a little snow kentucky and tennessee but watch what happens as the storm turns up the coast on friday. that is the day we begin to see the very heavy snow coming into parts of virginia and the warnings and watches are out, you can see all the way from georgia to parts of new jersey, winter storm watches and warnings in effect and friday what a mess. we're talking about over 24 inches of snow is expected here across virginia all the way up to parts of baltimore as well.

if traveling on the highways we're talking about 81, 95, 68, they are going to be very dangerous. it's going to take a lot of plows to get out there because the snow's going to be coming down quite heavy at times. then on saturday we're talking about the new york area and the new jersey area we are looking at probably about 12 inches of snow in this region. we're also talking about some very gusty winds and what that also means is we are going to be seeing power outages across this area. >> not something to look forward. >> it isn't. >> thanks kevin. gunmen stormed pakistan, leader of a taliban faction has claimed responsibility but a spokesman for pakistan's main taliban group denied involvement. four gunmen were killed. the incident came just a year after the peshawar school

assistant. another relic of ancient history, i.s.i.l. destroyed the monastery that was a 1400-year-old relic. senate democrats stopped a bill that would have effectively halted a program allowing them to enter the country. lisa stark has more from washington. >> supporters of the bill which was proposed after the paris attacks said it would help prevent americans from terrorist attacks. syrian and iraqi refugees are already vetted before they come to the united states but this would have made that process much more stringent. it would have required the head of homeland security the fbi and national intelligence to sign off on each refugee that each refugee was not a threat.

here is one of the bill's supporters senator john cornan. >> people who are refugees whether they are adequately vetted by the appropriate authorities before they come to the united states and live in our communities. this is not about banning refugees. it simply is not. >> reporter: many democrats deflounced the legislation saying republicans were declaring a war on refugees. here is senator dick durbin. >> our war is not with refugees, our war is with i.s.i.s. and terrorists. for us to turn our back on these refugees is plainly wrong. the bill before us sounds so innocuous. a pause, definitive me a break, read it. >> it needed 60 votes, even to begin debate, they did not get it. democrats wanted to turn this into a slap at donald trump. they said look we'll vote to advance the bill if you let us

vote on an amendment that would deflounce trump for his call on banning muslims coming into the united states. the republicans would not go for that. a very hot topic on the campaign trail and three republican candidates actually left their campaigning to come cast a vote, marco rubio, ted cruz and rand paul, bernie sanders stayed on the campaign trail, not in the senate today, we know how he would have volted, he would have voted against this refugee bill, back to you. >> lisa stark reporting. hillary clinton is denying new reports that e-mail sent to her private server contained classified material. clinton told npr that she never received any material marked classified from her server. a separate claim that the

e-mails made reference to the drone strikes. the number of undocumented immigrants is shrinking. fewer are entering the country illegally and many leaving. the mayor of flint, michigan are trying to get other cities across the country to avoid the same fate.

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only on al jazeera america >> the number of undocumented immigrants in the u.s. continues to fall. there are currently 10.9 million according to the center for migration studies. it says that's the lowest count since 2003. the report also says the number of undocumented immigrants has fallen, primary because of a decline in migrants in mexico. the first of six police officers tried in the case of freddy gray, will not have to testify against his other officers. porter's retrial has been scheduled for june. michigan governor rick snyder has released 274 pages of e-mails related to the water

crisis in flint. some of them reveal confusion as to which of his staff are required to determine if the water is safe. andy rosegen reports. don't let this happen to you. >> there are increasing calls from michigan's governor rick snyder to resign. but the mayor in flint is not adding her voice to that course. she doesn't say he should resign. >> trust was broken over a period of time and you don't regain trust in a matter of seconds because a statement is made. this is something he's going to have to work on for a long long time. >> weaver was asked what a lot of people in flint suspect that race and class played a big role in the response to the crisis which the governor said was a failure. >> it is a minority community, it's a poor community and our voices were not heard and that is part of this problem. >> the governor said during his

state of the state address that his administration will make things right. >> there can be no excuse. when michigan ders turders turne tap they expect clean water. >> it is a reminder why you cannot short change basic services we provide to people and we together provide as a government to make sure public health and safety is preserved. >> mayor weaver was at a conference in washington, d.c. wednesday warning other governors about the dangers of polluted water. >> don't let this happen where you live. >> mayor weaver was just elected in november but a city manager appointed by governor snyder

still has broader powers over the city than she does. oversaw the switch in the city's water supply that led to the dangerous drinking water. andy rosegen, al jazeera, flint. that did not stop another organized sick-out by educators today from closing 85 schools. dozens of protesters marched generosity the detroit auto show, coinciding with the president's tour inside. the teachers say they are underpaid and that school buildings are unsafe. there is no word on when the judge would act on the lawsuit, it names 24 teachers and their union as defendants. where politics and the environment crosses paths, an argument is sure to follow. a new proposal that could rewrite the astronomy books,

scientists say they have evidence of an unseen planet this our solar system, ten times more massive than earth.

>> the country raps largest private employer is about to git many of its employees a raise, walmart says more than 1 million of its hourly workers in the u.s. will get a pay raise, base rate will rise from 9 to $10 an hour. environmental activists and native american tribes are calling for the removal of four large hydroelectric dams that cost $1 billion to build. they're found along the snake river in eastern washts. washington state. allen schauffler reports.

>> the message is clear free the sthaik. they want to take down dams, big ones that generate hydroelectric power, create a river transportation corridor and cause problems for young salmon coming downstream and adult salmon coming up stream. supporters and opponents agree on that and almost nothing else. >> the cost of maintaining them are beginning to far outweigh the benefits they are providing us. >> all economic analysis show these dams are providing outstanding value to the inflation. >> fish passing ladders at every dam new slide systems for young fish new turbines like this one coming online that should be less harm many to the few small that spin through them. >> what we're doing for fish is working. >> we doing enough? >> i think enough.

>> not enough say protesters. >> to mitigate for these four destructive dams isn't the way to do it. we ought to be looking at other options. >> sam mace and other dam activists say they're encouraged by dam destruction on the region and especially on washington's elwha river, finally brought down two aging hydroelectric dams, the biggest project in u.s. history. rebecca miles sees the elwha river progress. >> in exchange to millions and millions of acres of land ceded to the u.s. government we were guaranteed the right to have fish. i believe reaching the lower snake river dams is the only answer. >> the four dams on the lower snake river are the newest in

the columbia and snake river hydroelectric system, built during the 50s 60s and 70s. no fish passage built in and the river no commercial traffic at all. hardly the case on the snake. >> the life blood of the pacific northwest is embedded in the columbia stake river system. >> you take down the dams what happens? >> it is gone. what we have is mud and muck and dirt and dust. >> hydroelectric power, passion and politics, salmon and human contacts, all colliding on the lower snai snake river. allen schauffler, al jazeera, lewiston, idaho. one big catch, a new planet, scientists still haven't seen it. basedden the observationest of

other objects. if this so-called planet 9 is real it is at least four times further from the sun than pluto. we're joined by space.com's david brody, dave great to see you. how strong do you think the evidence is? >> hey antonio, as a proper skeptical science reporter i'm properly pessimistic. however the space geek in me wants this to be the prelude of discovery, one year from now five years from now ten years from now. >> it is so far out there, 200 times further from the sun than the earth is, would it surprise you that a planet that large and so far away could still be pulled into the sun's orbit? >> no, for a few reasons, it is not that large, it is ten times

the size of earth putatively. so size wise it may be only twice the diameter of earth, so it's actually pretty small. and also the way we think planets evolve, this thing probably evolved if it exists much closer to the sun and gently spiraled out in the four and a half billion year life of the solar system. not prizing that it hasn't been seen so far. >> the circumstantial evidence is the others o orbits of theser objects. >> we have been specifically looking for them for the last 15 years or so. this is what led to the deemotion of pluto, we found other objects like pluto. the weird six, not together but

in similarly inclined elliptical orbits, without the influence of something like a planet x is astronomically shawl about 7/,000/77/10000 of 1%. first of all the planet is not a star not very had a hot not going to be glowing with its own light. it may be faintly radiating in the infrared, you play need a telescope or a detector. there is one satellite now called the neowise, formerly the wise mission, this object would be just at the lower limit of what that thing could see.

so that's why it's really questionable how long it's going to take. it might take until we have something like the james webb space telescope which is an infrared telescope in orbit or it might be found next week. it is one of these things where we don't have very many of these detentions. the last time a planet was detected was the planet neptune. the track record is very good, only a couple of detections. >> if it was detebted what would it tell us about the solar system? >> it would tell us that we're not special at all. all the stars we look at around which there are planets, 2,000 of these, the mow common is slightly smaller than neptune,

that tells us we're not special. >> dave brody, space.com, always good to see you. for the news any time head over to aljazeera.com. ray suarez is next with "inside story." have a great night. >> long disdained regulation of big finance, railed against the interference of the government in operations of big banks, and he has also taken large campaign loans from his wife's employer, goldman sachs. what do companies like goldman the? and did they get it from the freshman senator from texas? what do they say about the relationship between witnesses and campaigns? how cruz plays the game. it's the "inside