in the meantime you can find out much more about many of our stories on our website. the address to click on to as ever is aljazeera.com. aljazeera.com for all of the news and sport. ♪ slow growing. disappointing numbers for the u.s. economy in the fourth quarter. the truth is ted throughout this campaign you have been willing to say or do anything to get votes. >> gop presidential hopefuls trying to make a statement in the final push before iowa. new video reveals what happened in a final shootout with protesters. and police in southern california push the privacy boundary. ♪

this is al jazeera america live from new york city. i'm roxana saberi. president obama today announcing new actions to help women in the work force. today is the seventh anniversary of the lilly ledbetter, better pay act. today he announced new rules requiring companies with more than 100 employees to submit payday ta each year. in it's response to data showing women today earn $0.79 for every dollar a man earns. president obama says not only is this a disparity with women, but race also plays a factor. >> today women account for almost half of the work force, but the typical woman who works full-time still earns $0.79 per

every dollar that the typical man does. the gap is even wider for women of color, typical black working woman makes only $0.60. >> president obama says women are not getting a fair shot that every american deserves. patty what do you make of this? >> a lot of people roxana when they take a look at the wage gap one people do to dismiss the findings, they say women make different choices. but there were many studies done, and what they found was one year out of college, the pay -- one year out of college, four-year graduates, the pay gap is $0.82 for every dollar that a man earns, but this is very interesting, adjust for their choices, their major for example, like say an engineering mayor will make more than a mrit

science major. a 7% pay gap still exists and really what the american association of university women believes is that this is discrimination at work. >> we have heard this argument that women are just not aggressive enough in going after pay raises. is there any truth to that? >> you do hear, the problem is women are just not aggressive enough. but as you well know in our culture, we have very special names for women who are aggressive. and there have been many, many studies that show that women who standing up for themselves, offer information, who try to take that leadership role, that they can be discriminated against. so many economists believe this is absolutely a true thing, and people who just try to dismiss it as choices, explain that gap. >> another big story today is new gdp numbers out showing the

economy barely grew last quarter. so was this expected? >> it was very widely expected, because the gdp numbers are looking back. and we have had a lot of evidence to show that the economy was growing very slowly in the fourth quarter. the economy expanded less than 1%, .7%. that is what most economists were looking for. consumer spending decelerated, but it grew 2.2%. that's a deceleration from the second and third quarter, however, consumer spending very, very important because it accounts for two-thirds of economic growth. exports got hammered in the fourth quarter. they were down 2.5%. and you can chalk that up to the shrinking global economy but also the strong dollar. the dollar is extremely strong relative to other currencies.

that makes u.s. manufactured goods and services that much more expensive to buy abroad. another area of weakness was business investment. that is really down to oil prices. we have very low oil prices and the cost of production and exploration for u.s. shale oil producers is relatively high to more conventional oil producers. >> patty we also here the dow is up today. does the bank of japan have anything to do with that? >> yes. what they decided to do was drop interest rates to negative. so they are charging big banks to hold excess reverses. this is a stimulus measure. because it prods the banks to

lend that money out, instead of just hoarding it at the bank of japan and collecting interest on it. >> thank you. candidates on both sides of the presidential race are back on the campaign trail today in iowa. donald trump is now holding a townhall in new hampshire. he skipped the debate last night to hold his own rally for veterans. and the candidates focused much of their criticism last night on another front runner, ted cruz. david shuster breaks it all down. >> i kind of missed donald trump. >> reporter: jeb bush of course was kidding. the serious false claims, though, came quickly. marco rubio stated america's

intelligence and military have been weakens. >> when i'm president we are going to rebuild our intelligence capability. >> reporter: but the intelligence budget at nearly $50 billion is nearly as large as it has ever been. he also lashed out at the u.s.'s military side. >> today we are on pace to have the smallest army since then of world war ii. the smallest navy in 100 years. the smallest air force in our history. >> reporter: while it's true the overall size is smaller, the aircraft are more lethal, navy ships are more powerful, and the bombs and missiles are more precise. ted cruz defended his call for attacking isil-held territory with carpet bombing. >> carpet bombing is what we did in the first persian gulf war.

1100 air attacks a day. >> reporter: but those were targeted attacks. carpet bombing is when you destroy an area with no regard for civilians, a policy that military analysts say would cause more harm than good. chris christie delivered a whopper about the obama administration's policies towards police. >> barack obama has made law enforce the enemy. hillary clinton has made law enforcement the enemy. >> reporter: the enemy, some police believe the administration has placed too much emphasis on civil liberties, but no police department has accused the administration of not supporting law enforcement. >> the 45-year-old construction worker out there who is having a hard time making ends meet, he has lost $4,000 in the last seven years in his income because offed that administration. >> reporter: actually the

recession began in the last bush administration, and according to a non-partisan research group, wages over the past five years of the obama administration have been rising. it was all part of another wild night. >> stop the washington bull and let's get things done. immigration was probably the biggest topic at the debate last night with several candidates throwing jabs at each other on their shifting stances. >> within two years of getting elected you were cosponsoring legislation to create a path to citizenship, in your words, amnesty. >> i do not support blanket amnesty. >> you said earned path to citizenship is basically amnesty. >> now you want to trump trump on immigration, but we're not going to beat hillary clinton with anyone who is willing to

say or do anything for an election. >> when he ran for election in the state of florida he said if you elect me i will lead the fight against amnesty. when i ran in texas i told the people the same thing. we both made the identical promises, but when we came to washington, we made a different choice. >> i'm kind of confuse because he was the sponsor of the gang of 8 bill and then he cut and run because it wasn't popular amongst conservatives. i wrote a book about this, we should have a path to legal status for the 12 million here illegally. >> you used to support a path to citizenship -- >> so did you. >> but in the book -- >> so did you marco. chris christie interjected, saying that is why it is best to send a washington outsider to

the white house. the muslim public affairs council is sending out letters to 25,000 eyians. the better is being bundled with 25,000 copies of the des moines register. it does not name any candidates but the message alluded to donald trump's call to ban muslims from entering the country. trump boycotted think debate in a dispute with fox news and headlined his own event three miles away. >> this is an honor. i didn't want to be here. i wanted to be about five minutes away. and i have enjoyed that. all of the online polls say i have done very well with the debates. but you have to stick up for your rights, when you are treated badly, you have to stick up for your rights. >> trump claims he raised $6 million at his rally and

pledged $1 million of his own money as well. a twitter feud between donald trump and a saudi prince has been renighted. yesterday he tweeted a photo that featured the prince and megyn kelly. he claimed the prince is co-owner of the tv network. he prince responded by saying he bailed trump out twice and may need to do it again. the fbi is keeping communication channels open today with the remaining occupiers of an oregon wildlife refuge. 11 protesters have already been arrested after a four-week standoff. and we're getting a new look at what happened when the group's spokesman was shot dead. >> reporter: the fbi has just released new aerial video of tuesday's car pursuit and fatal shooting. there were no dash cams so the account was flushed out by

statements of officers on the ground. no one disputed the afternoon ended with the shooting death of lavoy finicum. >> we know there are various versions of what had happened out in the public domain. most of them inaccurate, some of them inflammatory. to that end, we want to do what we can to -- and in as transparent of manner as we can to give the public as much information as we could. >> reporter: the planes follow the feds down a forested road, containing two cars carrying members of the occupation en route to a meeting in a neighboring town. officers pull over the second vehicle as the white car carries on. from the dark jeep, ammon bundy and three others get out and are arrested peacefully. when the white vehicle has stopped, just one passenger gets

out and is taken into custody. then for nearly four minutes, the white car and remaining onning pants just sits. >> throughout this time agents and troopers are providing verbal commands to the officer to surrender. >> but with lavoy finicum at the wheel, the car races off at high speed only to hit a roadblock. he veers off of the road nearly hitting an fbi officer. >> he leaves the truck and steps in the snow, on at least two occasions he reaches toward the pocket in his jacket. he did have a loaded handgun in that pocket. at this time, osp troopers shot finicum. >> reporter: in releasing this video, the fbi seeks to convince the public that the use of lethal force was justified. >> we did everything we could to bring this situation to a peaceful resolution. >> reporter: and the fbi is still working for a peaceful

conclusion at the refuge. it's negotiators are working around the clock to persuade remaining occupiers to leave. the so-call affluenza teen will remain in a juvenile detention facility for now. the 18-year-old was captured in mexico last month after fleeing the country. couch was sentenced to probation in 2013 of being convicted of killing four people in a drunk driving crash. records obtained by the associated press show the couch family had at least 20 run-ins with the law before this case. up next a major auto maker announces a recall. plus police officers around the country fall victim to a hacker. and details on a new lawsuit in detroit.

talks are getting underway today in switzerland in an attempt to end the war in syria. al jazeera's james bayes has the latest. >> reporter: yes, talks are underway right now in terms of talks between the syrian government delegation, and the united nations. not negotiations at this stage, but the syrian government, i think, making clear its

position. in fact we are expecting in the next few minutes to hear from the syrian ambassador to the united nations in new york, because he is heading this delegation that has come here to geneva. a large delegation came from damascus. he was back in damascus before headed here. he'll be coming a short while from now. there are a great deal of press gathered here waiting to hear the words from the one side that is here at these negotiations. there are some opposition figures who have been invited in an individual capacity here. but the main opposition block, the one that includes the main political figures, the main armed groups, they are not here in geneva. as you know in the last few days, they have written letters to the u.n. security council, saying they have conditions before they come here, they say they cannot negotiate here in

geneva about peace when they will still being bombarded on the ground, when civilians in syria are still being besieged, and they want some of the basic provisions in the u.n. resolution passed last year, they want those actually to be respected before they are going to come here. we have got talk that perhaps they will be on their way to geneva, but the latest information is that that plane has not taken off yet. america's biggest police union has been hacked. private files belonging to the fraternal order of police were posted online thursday. they revealed the names and addresses of many members. the group represents about 330,000 law enforce officers

across the united states. nissan is recalling almost 350,000 cars for a third time. the recall is due to an issue with hood latches that could cause them to fly open while driving. the auto maker says in the last two recalls the latches were not fixed and lubricated properly. it is offering free fixes for all recalled cars starting mid-drooef. teachers in detroit are suing the district, demanding that broken-down buildings be fixed and the controversial manager be bemoved. john henry smith has the story. >> reporter: the teacher's union lawsuit follows seeks of sickouts. >> educators have been snubbed, ignored, disrespected, and punished when they informed the school district of specific safety and health problems, and pleaded to them to be repaired.

>> reporter: the teachers have released images showing schools with leaky molding ceilings, and even one image showing mushrooms growing out of the wall. and they call for a new plan to make needed repairs. >> my kids should haven't to deal with those conditions. >> reporter: it's illegal for the teachers to strike, so they turned to sickouts to make their point. sickouts that kept some 47,000 students in detroit out of school. despite that, some parents are siding with the teachers. >> last year my kids were out of school for 11 days because of building problems. >> reporter: the teachers blame state leaders and dar knoll early. he is the same person who once ran the city of flint and facile

i stated the switch that lead to that city's water contamination. the district has a $107 million deficit, and says it may run out of money by april. also in michigan, newly released emails raise questions about the state's response to the water crisis. the emails show while state officials were telling worried flint residents that water was safe, they arranged for dispensers of purified workers for workers. up next, how a device called a dirt box could have allowed police in southern california to spy on the public.

protests have been held in wisconsin in support of a convicted killer. the two were convicted in 2007 of killing a photographer. but the release of a net flex documentary series called making a murderer has raised questions about the police tactics. hundreds of thousands of people have signed petitions, asking president obama to pardon the two men. surveillance over disneyland. a new report shows police in anahe anaheim, california used aerial

surveillance to track cell phone activity. one of the devices they apparently used was a military-grade piece of equipment called a dirt box. ines ferre reports. >> reporter: the cell phone privacy of millions of disneyland visitors and residents of anaheim could have been compromised. >> it's alarming when law enforcement is purchasing tools in secret that take advantage of these devices that we rely on for our private communications. through a freedom of information request, the aclu obtained document s showing an inventory of surveillance tools, including stingrays which mimic cell phone towers to gather data, and a devised call a dirt box. >> now with a plane flying over head with a dirt box, this will

talk to the mobile phone and be in the middle and intercept all communications, texting, emails, all voice and data. >> reporter: this document shows anaheim police requested a grant from the department of homeland security to fund the dirt box purchase, saying every city in orange county has benefited from the device. >> since 9/11 there has been a massive expansion in federal dollars to purchase surveillance equipment, and this has made it easy for police to buy these tools. >> reporter: police departments tend to be tight-lipped about the use of surveillance devices. the justice department last year limited the use of devices like dirt boxes by federal agencies unless they obtain a search warrant, but until up january of this year, local agencies in california didn't need a war rent. ines ferre, al jazeera. one of the pope mobiles from

the pontiff's visit to the u.s. is up for auction. one of two of the cars that shuttled him around during his visit to philadelphia last year, is being auctioned at the city's annual auto show. proceeds will go to charity. the pope chose to ride around in a fiat to push the message of humility. michael phelps making a slash outside of the pool on a basketball court. he joined the arizona state sun devils curtain of distraction last night. the move to distract oregon state's free throws worked. the beavers were 9 for 20 from the free throw line. the sun devils won 86-68. thanks for joining us. i'm rockies. the news continues next live from london. ♪

>> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ it's good to have your company. i'm david shuster you are watching the al jazeera news hour live from london, and these are some of the stories we'll be examining in the next hour. the syrian government team begin talks with the u.n. in geneva, but opposition representatives are refusing so far to take part. [ explosion ] four people are killed in an attack on a shiite mosque in eastern saudi arabia. brazil's president declares war on the