the commitment of countries hosting large numbers of refugees to open up their labor markets is a break through. i thank the governments of jordan, lebanon, and turkey, for choosing -- for god has not given us a spirit of fear -- >> the president pleading that all faith be accepted at the annual prayer breakfast today. >> you can't say you are a moderate on one day and be a progressive on the other day. the outgoing u.s. commander in afghanistan pushing for a greater troop presence there. and notorious drug ceo dodges questions from congress. ♪

this is al jazeera america live from new york city. i'm del walters. that was president obama speaking at the last prayer breakfast of his presidency. the president, first lady, house speaker paul ryan and congresswoman nancy pelosi all having gathered. this coming one day after his first visit to a u.s. mosque. mike viqueira what was the president's message today? >> reporter: good morning so you, del. there is a theme in what the president has been saying. he has been reaching across partisan and religious lines. it was a week ago where he spoke at the israeli embassy, and today the national prayer breakfast which is an annual

event that has been going on since 1953. but the president also picking up on a second theme that he has been hitting over the course of the last several days, and that is the partisanship in washington, and some of what he has been hearing on the campaign trail. there were no overt political statements, no criticisms from the president. it's really not the setting or the context. but he talked about fear, economic fear. he talked about the fear of displacement and war. he talked about the fear of change, and there was really no mistaking the guiding principle and the structure of this speech. a clear illusion to a lot of the rhetoric, the inflammatory, the incendiary messages we have been hearing on the campaign trail. >> fear does funny things. fear can lead us to lash out against those who are different.

or lead us to try to get some sinister other under control. >> reporter: the sinister other the phrase the president using there, and this is a bipartisan event. it has been going on for some 60 years. paul ryan was there, nancy pelosi sitting alongside hymn, a republican and democrat co-chair. so there is really the spirit of the event, del. >> what are we to take of the fact this came one day after that visit to a mosque? >> reporter: this is a theme the president has instruct over the last several months. and you get the feeling that this is sort of unfinished business. in may he spoke at a synagogue here in washington on holocaust remembrance day he made a speech that was very well received at

the israeli embassy, yesterday he finally appeared at a u.s. mosque, while he had done so overseas previously, and striking the same themes of inclusion of american values of bedrock american community that reaches across sectarian lines of creed and political lines as well. so this is part of the president's theme over the course of the last several months as well, and we can expect it to continue through the remainder of his presidency, del. >> thank you very much. donald trump says he is going to sue over the results in iowa. in a series of tweets, trump saying ted cruz committed fraud in order to win. those tweets coming days after trump congratulated cruz on his win in iowa. >> it is no surprise that donald is throwing yet another

trumper-tantrum. >> cruz also saying that truch is just trying to regain attention on twitter. rick santorum getting less than 1% of the vote in this week's iowa caucuses. ho has dropped out of the race. and ben carson staying in his campaign, but reducing his campaign staff. and carly fiorina demanding a spot on stage at the next debate. she did better in iowa than chris christie and john kasich. both of them qualified, all of the other remaining candidates, except for the former virginia governor meeting the criteria as well. hillary clinton and bernie sanders facing off tonight for their final debate before

tuesday's new hampshire primaries. and tensi-- tensions are likelye high. >> reporter: bernie sanders and hillary clinton appeared in succession at this dairy townhall with each taking questions and speaking for an hour. >> i think this will be a very close election here in new hampshire. >> reporter: sanders pointed to his work on veteran's healthcare. >> i compromised significantly with people like john mccain, and republicans in the house, to pass what is regarded as the most significant piece of veteran's legislation passed in many many, many years. >> reporter: but he insisted he will not back down from his plans to raise minimum wage, pass universal healthcare, and rain in wall street.

>> what this campaign is about is not just electing a president. it's creating a revolution where millions have not been involved in the political process. standing up and demand a government which represents all of us. >> reporter: when asked about hillary clinton, sanders was matter of fact. >> you can't say you are a moderate on one day, and be progressive on the other day. >> reporter: polls suggests clinton is trailing sanders in new hampshire by double digits, and in her hour she opened fire, starting with the affordable care act. >> i don't agree that we should start over. that we should throw our country into a contentious national debate about health care again. good ideas on paper are important, but you have got to be able to translate them into action to get results for people. i have a lot of experience doing

that. i think i can deliver positive change for young people. >> reporter: as for her own ideas, clinton said she supports expanding healthcare coverage, and lowering college education costs, and she insisted that she would be tough on wall street. >> no bank is too big to fail, no executive too powerful to jail. >> reporter: andersson cooper asked about her speeches to wall street banks. >> reporter: did you have to be paid $670,000? >> well, i don't know. that's what they offered. [ laughter ] >> every secretary of state that i know has done that. >> reporter: but not when they are running for office -- >> well, to be honest, i wasn't committed to running -- i didn't know -- >> reporter: you didn't think you were going to run for president? >> i didn't. >> reporter: they both said they expect a long fight for the democratic nomination. but it will be a short time until voters see them at the

same venue again. thill face off in new hampshire for a debate. honda is recalling more than 2 million cars and trucks that could be equipped with potentially defective air bags. it includes certain 2005 to 2016 accura model and another 5 million cars from honda, fiat and chrysler being recalled by controversial air bags. they may not deploy in a crash or could go off without warning. florida's governor declaring a health emergency in four counties after officials confirmed that nine cases of zika virus being confirmed in the state. florida governor rick scott says he wants his state to be prepared. >> reporter: miami has long been

known as the gateway to the americas. and it is born out by the international airport. every day more than 40,000 passengers arrive from or go to latin america or the caribbean. that potentially makes florida vulnerable. some senior politicians have voiced concern that the airport may not have the resources to cope with the zika virus, but expects say it's getting back to scientific basics that will help the most. >> almost all experts are expecting to see locally transmitted cases at some point in the united states. >> reporter: justin has been studying infectious diseases for years, and says there is nothing new in how communities can respond to the virus. he tells us a real difference can be made by improving living

conditions globally and accurately diagnosing those who fall ill. >> the faster the better in terms of basic services, but to me it's getting back to the basics. diagnostics. basic data. trying to get a perfect diagnosis on every patient, everywhere in the world. >> reporter: but miami's mosquito control center it's business as usual. officials have no plans to implement any special measures to combat the zika virus, but say it's people who will make the biggest difference. >> we're appealing to the public, to property owners to do their job. they will play a major role right now in preventing the diseases to get established in our country, by eliminating accumulating water around their homes. >> reporter: there are no federal guidelines in response to the outbreak in florida, but that may change as the weather gets warmer. but officials say itself

education programs and the public's role that will be most crucial. outspoken former drug ceo testifying today. he gained fame when he raised the prize of an hiv drug by 5,000%. he was quickly excused from the hearing after pleading the fifth several times. >> do you think you have done anything wrong? >> on the advice of counsel, i invoke my fifth amendment privilege, and respectfully decline to answer your question. >> reporter: he claimed he couldn't speak because of a legal case pending against him. he has been charged with securities fraud. after the meeting tweeting hard to believe these imbiciles represent our people and our government. the assad government using

diplomacy to shield a major offensive in syria.

>> the florida house has passed controversial bills that would expand gun rights. it would allow conceal carry permit holders to have their firearms on college campuses. lawmakers vote almost entirely along party lines with the

exception of one democrat who voted in favor. the irs are hoping to have their computer systems back up and running today. they stopped running on monday. the irs is blaming a compute hardware failure. the agency says it is making repairs and doesn't anticipate any major problems. right now the outgoing come manager of afghanistan forces is testifying. john campbell appearing on tuesday. he told the house the u.s. must make a long term commitment to keep the situation from getting worse. jamie mcintyre is live from the pentagon. >> reporter: as you mentioned, del, this is john campbell's second appearance before congress as he prepares to wrap up his 18-month tour as the top u.s. commander in afghanistan. and he had to concede that this has been a bad year in afghanistan, a year when the

taliban has been resurgent and conditions are deteriorating. but the told the congress not all is lost. he said it's very important that the u.s. not have another year in afghanistan like 2015. >> afghanistan is at an inflection point, and i believe if we do not make deliberate, measured judgments, 2016 is at risk of being no better and possibly worse than 2015. >> reporter: the two things this hearing focused on are the plans for how many u.s. troops would remain in afghanistan, and also thef fort to go after isil. and he got sharp questioning on that from chairman john mccain both about the troop levels and about why it took almost a year for the u.s. to get the authority to go after isil in afghanistan. here is a little of mccain's

opening statement. >> many of us are increasingly concerned that our rules of engage as dictated by the authority of the president giving to our commanders on the ground, are making our mission more difficult. for example, it is stunning that up until just a few weeks ago, we had to wait for isil to attack or threaten our forces in afghanistan before taking action. >> reporter: so here is the two things that the u.s. has to be concerned about as the coming year comes. and the main one really is the troop levels. right now the plan is for the 9800 u.s. troops to stay through most of this year, and then go down to 5500 troops in 2017. general campbell testified at that level they would not be able to perform both of the missions they are doing now. one counter terrorism going after groups like isil and

al-qaeda, and two, assisting in training the afghan forces. and while he didn't make a recommendation, he clearly hinted that the u.s. is going to have to reconsider that plan to go down to a lower number of troops. >> john nicholson is the person slated to replace campbell. is there a difference in the philosophies between these two men? >> reporter: no, not really. and general nicholson has promised when he gets in there, he is going to review the situation, and i'll be surprised frankly if he doesn't come back with a recommendation that the president once again adjust the withdrawal plans so they are based on the conditions on the ground in afghanistan and not just a goal to match the withdrawal against the calendar. >> jamie mcintyre for us at the pentagon. jamie, thank you very much.

the u.s. is pledging $600 million in aid to help the refugees from syria. the u.n. has now suspended those peace talks aimed attending the civil war in syria, just three days after they began. james bayes has more on just what lead to the break down in talks? >> reporter: the talks were halted, because i think the opposition were about to pull out of the talks, and the whole process was going to collapse, and so for that reason i think the u.n. felt the best option was to announce a pause -- a delay for three weeks, and this was the announce made by the u.n. special envoy. >> there is more work to be done, not only by us, but by the stake holders who have been telling us go and start this initiative. >> reporter: staffan de mistura speaking in geneva, he, like me

has made his way in the last couple of hours from geneva to here in london. i saw him here, and he told me he was going straight away to brief ban ki-moon to give him his candid and frank assessment of the situation. i can also tell you that i have been speaking to another u.n. insider who is involved with the de mistura team, and this insider told me that they felt the situation was very difficult now. it is going to be very hard to put this process back together. yes, they have announced a delay, but what they fear is the russian bombardment, and the syrian military advance will continue, and if that happens it is going to be very hard to explain to the opposition block that they should come back to the negotiating table, because they feel they were given assurances and they have been mislead. the united nations now asking for $9 billion in aide.

they topped that reaching $10 billion. wick key leaks founder says he will turn himself in if the u.n. says he should. he is trying to avoid extradition to sweden where he is wanted in connection to a sex abuse scandal. when we come a back, a new warning that has some furious.

authorities in wisconsin are investigating a bomb threat against the sheriff's office that was featured in that netflix series making a murder. the caller references justice for steven, in reference to convicted killer steven avery. the sheriff's office has received criticism for its handling of a murder investigation. the sexual assault case against bill cosby is moving forward, the judge turning down a defense request. john terrett has the latest. >> reporter: at the end of two days of pretrial hearing in the cosby case, a bomb shell

testimony from andrea's civil lawyer. the woman at the center of the case. pushing back at virtually everybody said on the stand by the da at the time. she said she never heard of any deal not no prosecute bill cosby. she said she only learned of it when she saw a press release. and she said the real reason they can't prosecute him years ago, had much more to do with the fact that he was running to office again and didn't want to alienate the fans of cosby. the motion to have the case dismissed was denied. however, cosby's team say they will appeal. the next court date is slated to

be march 8th. testing is underway on a potential cure for diabetes. johnson & johnson say they have developed a system that uses stem cells. it would implant stem cells under the skin and turn them into insulin producing cells. there is controversy this morning over new guidelines over pregnancy and drinking. >> reporter: alcohol and pregnancy do not mix. >> reporter: for years the medical community as warned women against drinking alcohol while pregnant. new guidelines from the cdc take this one step further recommending 15 to 44-year-old women not drink any alcohol unless they are on birth

control. >> the fetal alcohol spectrum disorder is associated with even small amounts of alcohol consumption during pregnancy. >> reporter: the cdc says most women will not know they are pregnant for the first month or so while they still might be drinking. the announcement is generating a slew of criticism, mainly for leaving men out of the equation. on facebook this user writes: and andy writes: and one feminist blogger says: the cdc report says more than 3 million drink, are sexually active and not using birth control and they are at risk of exposing their baby to alcohol

if they become pregnant. it looks like north korea has a new way to unload its garbage, floating balloons into south korea loaded with trash. all part of the ongoing propaganda war. the south also continues to send loud music into the north with those loud speakers, blaring pop songs and criticizing the north korean leader. the ceo of tesla canceling an order for a tesla x car. it came after this man said he had a bad experience. musk called him and said if he wasn't comfortable having him drive the car he wouldn't sell him one. the 130,000 dollar car is two years behind schedule. thanks for joining us.

let's go live to jordan's foreign minister who is speaking. let's listen in. >> translator: we have heard from other dignitaries there. it began with david cameron announcing that $11 billion had been pledged to help syrian refugees. it is 1700 gmt, you are watching al jazeera with special coverage of the donor conference on syria, taking place in london. >> translator: -- which has no precedent and of course the relies were positive. we appreciate them. and we say now we are thinking of the road. we have come to a cross road. the first step is that the road should respond to find a political solution to the syrian crisis. anving this generosity of heart