>> reporter: for now his business is growing. he is in talking with two potential foreign investors, and the supply of materials is no longer limited to his ranch. that's what the government hopes can be replicated all over. but with poor infrastructure, everyone knows the odds are stacked against businesses for now. ♪ international donor conference in london has raised promises of more than $10 billion to help syrian refugees. while the u.n. secretary general acknowledged syria's warring parties are divided in this talks, he urged them to unite for humanitarian purposes. >> i welcome the shared commitment of today's attendees to use their influence to end

sieges and other grave human rights abuses. what would most help the people of syria is not just the food for today, but hope for tomorrow. yet, the parties to the conflict remain deeply divided, even on improving the humanitarian situation. >> while they were talking in london, though, we were able to get ahold of some pictures on the situation in one town in particular. you may remember madaya, civilians, including small children are still starving as aid trickles through. two women, we have been lead to believe died because of lack of food there on thursday. at least 19 people have died of malnutrition. and italy is demanding an investigation into the death of a student in cairo. he disappeared on january 25th.

italy's prime minister demanded that egypt return his body. at least 28 iraqi soldiers have been killed in a series of isil suicide attacks in anbar province. one was inside an army barracks in ramadi, the other in fallujah. police in greece used tear gas on protesters during a nationwide strike on economic reforms. their angry about austerity measures. the swedish government says a u.n. legal panel will rule that julian assange is the victim of arbitrary detention. i'll be back with the news hour in about 30 minutes, but up next on al jazeera, "inside story."

>> for god has not given us a spirit of fear. >> the president makes a plea for all faiths to be accepted at the annual prayer breakfast. bernie sanders and hillary clinton look to lure the left before tonight's debate. the outgoing u.s. commander in afghanistan pushes for greater troop presence. ininvoke my fifth amend privilege. >> and notorious drug ceo dodges questions from congress. ♪ this is al jazeera america live from new york city. i'm richelle carey. president obama speaking earlier this morning at the last national prayer breakfast of his presidency. the president, first lady

michelle obama, house spearer paul ryan, and congresswoman nancy pelosi were all there. the breakfast comes a day after his first visit to a u.s. mosque as president. al jazeera's senior washington correspondent, mike viqueira is live in washington. mike tell us more about the president's message today. good evening, or good afternoon. it is really indicative of a theme president obama has been hitting over the past several months. he has been trying to reach across divisions in american society. this is an increasing theme that he has been striking whether those divisions be religious or political, and secondly, it's quite evident that the president is disturbed and upset by much of what he regards as the angry rhetoric coming from the campaign trail, particularly from the republican side, obviously. if you look at some of the speeches he has given over the course of the last weeks and

months, first in may his first-ever trip to a synagogue. he gave an address at washington, d.c. at a place of worship. then last week at the holocaust remembrance ceremony. and his first-ever trip to a mosque on u.s. soil where he talked about the theme of unity in american society how the rich tapestry is threatened by some of the anti-muslim rhetoric that has been heard. and today, he used this theme of fear as sort -- as an illusion to what he has been hearing that politicians are playing on american sense of fear to gain political traction. here is a little bit more of what he had to say. >> 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, consistent with what we have heard from the president talking about the political sphere. last month he devoted the second half of his state of the union speech to talk about the need to come together in the political world. richelle. >> mike, of course this is a day after what we were talking about a moment ago, the president's visit to a mosque. coincidental? >> reporter: not coincidental. perhaps in scheduling that visit to the mosque yesterday, we're mindful of the fact that this event which has been happening each year for the past 63 years, it used to be called the presidential prayer breakfast, the first was hosted by divide -- dwight eisenhower in

1953. as far as the mosque, leaders have been urging the president to visit for quite sometime the president has reacted very angrily to the anti-muslim rhetoric. so we're seeing a consistent theme to try to reach across these divisions in american society whether they be political or religious. richelle? >> mike, thank you. marco rubio is criticizing president obama's speech yesterday at a mosque. rubee says obama's words divide rather than unit americans.

>> not all g.o.p. candidates were critical. jeb bush praised obama's remarks. donald trump is threatening to sue over the results in iowa. he said that ted cruz committed fraud in order to win, and that either a new election should take place, or cruz's results should be nullified. those tweets come days after trump congratulated cruz on his win in iowa. cruz is lashing out. >> it is no surprise that donald is throwing yet another temper tantrum or if you would like yet another trumper tantrum. meanwhile the man who won iowa in 2012 has now suspended his campaign. rick santorum got less than 1% support in this week's iowa caucuses. he is throwing his support behind senator marco rubio. and ben carson is staying in the race, but is substantially

downsizing his campaign. he is slashing 50 staff positions and significantly reducing employees salaries. the employees being cut mostly work in field operations at his headquarters in virginia. g.o.p. hopeful carly fiorina is demanding a spot on stage at the next debate. she did not meet the criteria to make the main stage even though she did better in iowa than chris christie and john kasich. this time there's no under-kardashian debate. she wants the republican national committee to take over and set the rules. hillary clinton and bernie sanders face off tonight for a final debate before the new hampshire primary. david shuster reports. >> reporter: just six days before the first in the nation, new hampshire primary, bern and hillary clinton appeared in success at this townhall with

each taking questions and speaking for an hour. >> i think this is going to be a very close election here in new hampshire. >> reporter: sanders addressed some vulnerabilities, including perceptions that he is too idealistic to compromise. >> 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 years. >> reporter: but he insisted he will not back down from his plans to raise the minimum wage, pass universal healthcare and rain in wall street. >> what this campaign is about is not just electing a president. it is creating a political revolution where millions of people, many of whom have not been involved in the political process, stand up, and demand a government which represents all of us, not just wealthy campaign

contributors. >> reporter: when asked about hillary clinton, sanders was matter of fact. >> you can't go and say you are a moderate on one day and be a progressive on the other day. >> reporter: polls suggest clinton is trailing by double digits, and in her hour she opened fire, starting with the affordable care act. >> i don't agree with center sanders that we should start over. that we should throw our country into a contentious national debate about healthcare 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 any 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 fail. >> reporter: andersson cooper asked about her speeches to wall street banks. >> did you have to be paid $675,000. >> well, i don't know that's what they offered. [ laughter ] >> so every secretary of state that i know has done that. >> but not when they were running for office. >> to be honest, i wasn't committed to running. i didn't -- i didn't know -- >> you didn't think you were going to run for president again? >> i didn't. >> reporter: they both said they now expect a long fight for the democratic nomination. but it will only be a short time until voters see them at the same venue again. on thursday night they will appear face-to-face in new hampshire for a presidential debate. florida's governor has declared a health emergency in four counties after officials confirmed nine cases of zika virus in the state.

the declaration allows florida to begin aggressively spraying mosquitos. >> we are appealing to the public, appealing to the homeowners, to property owners to do their job. they are called to play a major role right now in preventing the establishment in our country, by eliminating standing water around the home. >> the total number standings at 48 across the nation. the mosquito that carries zika is found in states from florida to texas and parts of arizona. outspoken former drug company ceo took the fifth at a congressional hearing this morning. he gained fame when he raised the price 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 against self-incrimination and respectfully decline to answer your question. >> he claimed he couldn't speak because of a legal case pending against him. he has been charged with securities fraud. after the hearing he tweeted this: hard to believe these imbeciles event our people and the government. and claims that the assad government is using peace talks to shield a major offensive in area.

>> from rural midwest to war-torn mideast. she went for the money and found a greater calling... the florida house passed controversial bills that would expand gun rights. it allows conceal permit holders to have their firearms on college campuses. they are not expected to pass the state's senate. right now, the outgoing commander of u.s. forces in afghanistan is testifying on capitol hill. on tuesday he told a house committee the u.s. must make a

long-term commitment to keep the security in afghanistan from getting worse. jamie mcintyre joins us live from the pentagon. what can we expect to learn today? >> reporter: what we have learned from this hearing is that there's great concern about the level of u.s. involvement in afghanistan, and whether the president's plan to draw down the number of troops to about 5500 troops by 2017 is really sustainable. general campbell, who is wrapping up 18 months as the top commander in afghanistan conceded today that the conditions in afghanistan deteriorated over the course of the year, and he told the committee that the u.s. cannot afford to have a rerun of 2015. >> afghanistan is at an inflection point, and i believe if we do not make deliberate measured adjustmenteds, 2016 is at risk of being no better and possibly worse than 2015.

>> reporter: and the adjustments he is talking about are adjustments to u.s. troop levels in afghanistan. right now the current plan is for the 9800 troops in afghanistan to stay there for most of this year, but then be brought down to 5500 troops in 2017. general campbell testified today that at that level, the u.s. would not be able to conduct both missions it is conducting now. both counter terrorism mission and the mission to train and assist afghanistan forces, and he also conceded that the -- that the u.s. military had only started targeting isil in afghanistan just recently even though isil had begun to show up in parts of afghanistan as much as a year ago. in that was something that senate armed services committee chairman john mccain was quite upset about. >> many of us are also increasingly concerned that our

rules of engage as dictated by the authorities the president gives to our commanders on the ground are making our mission more difficult, and increasing the risks to our troops. 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 now the u.s. is launching air strikes against isil positions in afghanistan. and another shortcoming that general campbell mentioned, by the way, richelle is that the afghans don't have the ability to provide the kind of close air support that the troops on the ground need. they only have four of these so-called so-called a-29 attack planes. but he says it will be years before they have the kind of air support. so that is another area where the u.s. may need to adjust its tactics. >> jamie, general campbell is

retiring after a year 18-month tour. he is going to be replaced by lieutenant general john nicholson. are their philosophies similar? >> reporter: they are very similar. what general nicholson has told the senate armed services committee is that he is going to take the first 90 days to look at all of these questions that general campbell has raised today, and the way things are heading it looks like the consensus of the military advice will be that the u.s. is going to need to keep a substantial number of troops in afghanistan for years to come. >> jamie thank you. julian assange says he will turn himself in if a u.n. panel says he should. he is trying to avoid extradition to sweden where he

is wanted in a sex crime investigation. he has long claimed the investigation is a ruse to eventually have him extradited to the u.s. for leaking classified documents. when we come back, a look at why a new warning for women about alcohol has some people furious. and a pennsylvania judge rules against bill cosby over sexual assault charges. ♪

authorities in wisconsin are investigating a bomb threat against the sheriffs office

featured in the netflix documentary. the sheriff's office has received public criticism for its handling of the 2005 murder investigation in which avery was found guilty of killing a photographer. the sexual assault case against bill cosby is moving forward. al jazeera's john trert has the latest from pennsylvania. >> reporter: at the end of two days of pretrial hearing a bomb shell testimony from andrea's civil lawyer. andrea is the woman at the center of the case accusing bill cosby of sexually ma lesing her. she said she never heard of any deal not to prosecute the comedian, involving bill cosby and bruce caster. she said she only learned of it when a press release went out from caster's office and she

said she and her colleagues thought the real reason he didn't prosecutor cosby years about, had much more to do with the fact that he was running for office again and didn't wanten to alienate bill cosby's fans. in the end, the judge sided with the evidence put forward by the prosecution and the motion to have the case dismissed was denied. howevers kasby'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. they say they have developed a system that uses stem cells. they implant them under the skin to turn into insulin producing cells. it would end the need for frequent insulin injections and blood sugar testing. this is controversy over new

guidelines over pregnancy and drinking. the cdc recommendations were supposed to remind women of the risks involved. but critics say they actually shame women. >> alcohol and pregnancy do not mix. >> reporter: for years the medical community has warned women against drinking alcohol while pregnant. new guidelines recommend 15 to 44-year-old women not drink any alcohol unless they are on birth control. >> right now we know the disorder is associated with small amounts of alcohol consumption. >> reporter: the guidelines aim at curving health defects in developing babies before the mother knows she is pregnant. the cdc says most women won't know they are pregnant for the first month or so while they may still be drinking. but the announcement is generating a slew of criticism. on facebook:

and one feminist blogger says: this cdc report says more than 3 million women drink, are sexually active and not using birth control, and it says they are at risk of exposing their baby to alcohol if they become pregnant. north korea is floating balloons into south korea loaded with trash. people in some villages have found balloons. it's all part of the ongoing propaganda war. both sides sending balloons loaded with leaflets. south korea also continues to send loud music into the north

criticizing the north korean leader. the ceo of tesla personally canceled an order of a test car. it started late and prevented one man from driving the car. so musk contacted him and said he wasn't comfortable having the man own the car at all. the x is two year's behind its scheduled delivery date. vice president joe biden is on facebook, finally. this is what the vice president wrote. it is the first time a vice president has had one of these, i would like it to be a place where we can talk directly about the issues that matter both of us. today also happens to be facebook's 12th birthday. thank you for joining us. i'm richelle carey, the news continues next live from london. thanks for your time, and do keep it here. ♪

very good to have you along for this news hour, this is the news hour, live from london. several stories we will be looking at. still starving inside syria, promises billions to help refugees with solution for the country itself, looks a long way off it's not just the food for today, but hope for tomorrow. >> the death of a student, apparently killed after being