>> people were saying that we were terrorists. >> how are you providing a cover for your brother to do this? >> we saw the evil side of the social media take off. ♪ ♪ this is al jazeera america. i am lori jane gliha in new york. randall pinkston is on assignment. scheyer look at today's top stories. the senior supreme court justice has passed away. conservative giants antonin scalia was found dead this morning. >> i do not believe the president should appoint someone and it is not unprecedented it's been over 80 years since a lame duck president has appoint aid supreme court justice. >> scalia's death a major topic at the final republican debate

before the south carolina primary. also campaign finance is a key components of democrat bernie sanders' speeches. tonight a deeper look at money spent so far. how it's raised and how it is spent. and tha in brazil, the governmet launch a war on the zika virus. ♪ ♪ we begin tonight with the death of a conservative giant on the supreme court. justice antonin scalia has side at the age of 79. a authorities believe he died of not causes. over his three decade tenure on the bench. justice scalia expressed strong opposition to abortion rights, same-sex marriage and affirmative action. his passing leaves washington with questions over what's next for the supreme court. political leaders around the country have paid tribute to justice scalia today.

even those that didn't see eye-to-eye white sox voice. >> tonight we honor his extraordinary service to our nation. and remember one of the towering legal figures of our time. >> al jazeera's erica pit see has more on the justice's career and how he changed the supreme court during his 30-year tenure on the bench. >> reporter: for three decades antonin scalia was one of the most out spokeen and controversial members of the supreme court. known for his unapologetically conservative opinions and scathing decents. most recently he voted with the minority opposing the landmark decision guaranteeing the right to same-sex marriage in, his opinion he wrote that the ruling was, quote, at odds not only with the contusion but with the principles upon which our nation wag built. he also made headlines in his decent upholding president obama's healthcare law, saying

we should call this law society us care, referring to the acronym used to refer to the supreme court of the united states. scalia is most famous for his vote in bush, have gore which handed the presidential lex to george w., but. telling critics it was the right thing to do. >> i don't think you can find anyone that has his stature on the conserve at this side that could have his influence that he was able to bring to bear because of his raw intellect. >> he was tagged as a future supreme court justice years before president reagan appointed him to the court in 1986. once on the court he became a champion of conservative ideology, beloved by the right and increasingly vilified by the left. however, scalia was not always that predictable. no 1989 he pleased liberals buys voting to uphold free speech and he sported the the majority in a case that found that gregory lee johnson had right to burn the american flag during the republican convention. >> there are two philosophical

themes that really stood out. one is dock run of original intent that the constitution should not be viewed as a living document. that the justices can change as they perceive changes in culture. he also was a tex tal i was when it came town turn representing statutes. he thought the court should stick to the statutes. 56789 as a speak tore conservative causes he agreed to be provide by 60 minutes. >> justice score low a is a polarizing figure. who invites protesters and picketers, there haven't been many supreme court justice that his have become this much of a lightening rod. i am surprised these that people really hate you. we have been told he's evil. he will drag us back to stephen 89. he's a neanderthal. they threatened by when you believe in.

>> these are people that don't understand what my interpretive philosophy is. >> reporter: born in trenton, new jersey to civilian immigrant parents who came lou ellis island he attended public grade school in agent like high school in new york city. he enrolled in georgetown university in washington, d.c. after graduation he went onto study at harvard law school. >> for more on the justice's legacy al jazeera's lisa stark joins us live from washington, d.c. and lisa, what does scalia's death mean for the obama administration? >> reporter: well, first we should mention as you might pictures president obama has ordered that flags be lowered to half staff around the country in public buildings in honor of the justice. but really what the president has to now look at is who he is going to a point this vacancy. and he made it clear tonight, that he is planning on moving forward with such an point. here is what president obama said. >> i plan to fulfill my

constitutional responsibilities to nominated knat a successor in due time. there will be plenty of time for me to do so and for the senate to fulfill its responsibility to give that person a fair hearing and a timely vote. these are responsibilities i take seriously as should everyone. 78 the president saying i will appoint someone and you need to step up to the plate and insure that you vet this person and & have a vote on the person i appoint. we can already see this will be a tough road. mitch mcconnell who is the leader of the republican and seat an really on the republican side releasing a statement today saying the american people should have a vote in the selection of the next supreme court justice. therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president. well, equally outspoken is the

leader on the democratic side harry reid, he said the president can and should send the senate a nominee right away. with so many important issues pending before the court, the senate has a responsibility to fill the vacancies as soon as possible. but really, lori jane, we can expect that this vacancy will simply not be filled before the election. the president will are nominate someone, perhaps the senate will begin to debate had person, but it's just too polarized on the capitol hill for any kind of a nominee to ge get approved befoe the next president is elected. >> lisa, how do you think the impact, this is going to impact the cases before the court this session? >> reporter: well, this could have a significant impact on a number of cases. you know, i talked to tom goldstein he has argued 38 cases b court, he also run runs socies block which takes a look at the court and the court's action. the 5-4 cases are likely now to

go 4-4 meaning the lower court ruling would stand and be no precedent set by the supreme court. that could happen in cases involving union fees. cases involving one person, one vote. there are some significant cases. it could happen with president obama's immigration law and the con extra accept tiff mandate under the affordable care act. one other kikes this year is the case of affirmative action in college admissions. scalia was opposed to affirmative action. we know which way he would have gone on that case. that case will now only be decided by seven justices because elena saying inning has had to recuse herself, one of the liberal justices, we could still see the court strike down affirmative action in college admissions because we just have three liberal justices that will be ruling on that, four more conservative justices on the other side. but clearly this will have a big impact on the very controversial

cases that were before the court this session that are before the court this session. >> all right, lisa stark in washington, d.c., thank you. republican presidential candidates were in greenville, south carolina tonight for the presidential debate leading up to state's primary. randall pinkston is there live. and randle, what's the reaction from the candidates on the death of antonin scalia? >> reporter: quite somber. behind meet right now, i should mention that the candidates of course will be coming in to the spin room, you may even see some of them passing behind me as we were talking. before we talk about justice ca leah, we must say this debate may very well go down as one of the most contentious face-offs in any modern day suppress shall campaign the insults were fast and furious, some of them personal. but the evening did begin on a serious somber note a moment of silence and respect for the detective of justin antonin scalia and talking about the vacancy of the justice and who should fill. it the fight began over cruz and

trump over who would appoint a conservative justice. >> i did not nominate john roberts, i would not have nominated him. >> you pushed him. >> i supported him. >> you worked with him and you pushed him. why do you lie? >> why do you lie? learn not to interrupt me. >> you pushed him. >> adults learn not to interrupt each other. >> yeah, yeah, i know, you are an a doesn't you are an a gut. >> i did not no nominate him. i would not have nominated him. i would have nominated by former boss mike lewd i can who was justice scalia's first law clerk, you know how he know that dawned's supreme court justices will be liberals because his entire life he supported liberals from jimmy carter to hillary clinton to john kerry. >> reporter: that was one fight donald strump was engaged in. there were others including one with jeb bush the former florida governor over the iraq war that was launched by bush's brother former president george w. bun bunch. >> george bush made a mistake, we can mick mistake.

that but one was a beauty. we should have never been in iraq. they lied. they said there were weapons of mass destruction there were none and they knew there were none. there were no weapons of mass d. >> [booing]. >> i am sick and tired of barack obama blame buying brother for all the problems he's had. and frankly i could careless about the insults that donald trump gives to me, it's blood sport for him, he enjoys it and i am glad he's happy about it. >> reporter: ohio governor john kasich was also involved in some of the donnyrook, he has been insist that go he will run a positive campaign and avoid negativity. but tonight he couldn't avoid it. he got in to a clash with bush over domestic spending. >> the kato institute which greats governors based on their spending rank him right at the bottom. [speaking at the same time] >> i want to make sure that they electric the most conservative -- elect the most

conservative gunner that can win. we went from an $8 billion hole to a $2 billion surplus, we are up 400,000 jobs and our credit is solid. >> the people of this country and this state want to see everybody rise and they want to see unity and i don't want to get in to all of this fighting tonight. because people are sick of the negative campaigning. >> there were many more insults including marco rubio and trump accusing cruz of lying. not a lot of insults about dr. ben carson perhaps because he's the lowest in the polls. the candidates are going all out in this all-important first in the south primary to get republican voters to select them election day. lori. >> all right, randle pinkston in is being, is thank you very much. in a few minutes a deeper look at money and the 2016 campaign. now justice scalia's death will impact the campaigns of republican candidate for president. that's coming up in just a few minutes. the annual munich security

conference is underway in germany. inside world leaders are exchanging jabs. secretary of state john kerry accuses russia of repeated aggression in both syria and ukraine. but russia says sanctions imposed by nato only aggravate tensions and it claims the west is rekindling the cold war. al jazeera's dominic kane reports. >> reporter: only a short while after the agreement on syria was reached in this city, the u.s. secretary of state was back in munich for a security conference. although some politicians had hailed thursday's deliberations as a step forward. others have expressed extreme skepticism n his address to the conference, john kerry addressed that skepticism by suppressing how critical it is to make the is saying of hostilities work. >> this con flings will still require a political solution at some point in time in order to make peace, no matter what

happens. this is the moment, this is the hinge page. decisions made in the coming days and weeks and few months could end the war in syria or it could define a very difficult set of choices for the future. >> reporter: quite how difficult is becoming clear this weekend in munich. the french prime minister has accused the russians of bombing civilians in syria. an allegation endorsed by the u.s. government. russian prime minister has said comments like these are making his country feelin' increasingly isolated. >> translator: one could go as far as to say that we have slid back to a new cold war. almost on an every-day basis we are called one of the most terrible threats, either to nato as a whole or to europe or to the united states. >> reporter: the russians stress that they have national interests in syria. and that they have no secret

agenda. they have repeatedly denied that they are bombing civilians there. the humanitarian tragedy syria has suffered for the past five years has been highlighted by aid agencies and human rights groups alike. hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and millions more displaced both inside and outside syria. >> i think the underlying crisis we are dealing with say leadership crisis. we have -- when we talk about the refugee crisis we have to remember the only moment it was a global refugee crisis was when the refugees started going to europe. suddenly it's become global. it's been going on for five years. it's in different parts of the world. what needs to happen is we need to give the protection, the international protections which these people who are fleeing from war and persecution deserve and are entitled to. >> reporter: while there may well be international support for a peaceful way out of the syria crisis, at the same time there are signs that regional players like turkey and saudi arabia, are readying their

forces for ground operations. dominic kane, al jazeera, munich. >> and joining me now from ann arbor, michigan is juan cole our international affairs contributor. juan, with "consider this" you describe the circumstances right now in the region and whether this so-called cessation of hostilities is likely to happen? >> it's not likely to happen on the front that his matter. there could be some parts of syria where there is a part of cease choir where the red cross and others can bring in some aid. the hot fronts the fight over a hey, for instance, russia has already kind of announced that the people on the other side of terror terrorists and it has no intention of ceasing fire with them. >> we just heard russia's foreign minister accuse the west of reigniting the cold war. what do you make that have comment? and how do you think it's going

impact progress? >> well, i think it's a sign of that russia does feel somewhat isolated. it's being condemned by nato. it feels surrounded in some ways but it's not an accurate statement. russia is a great power. it's not as great a power as the soviet union had been and great powers come in to conflict over spheres of influence and that's all that's happening in places like syria and ukraine. >> there are some questions over whether this agreement will actually increase fighting in the region and there is skepticism over rauch and whether it will adhere to the agreement. what is russia's track record on things like that? >> well, it's hard to tell, because russia has kind of a broader definition who the enemy is or what terrorists are then the united states. there are elements of the old free syrian army.

they may have gone hard line towards muslim fundamentalism. the u.s. still supports many of them including giving them arms through the saudis. whereas the russians sunday to define a lot of those including the free men of syria as terrorist organizations and very little different from isil or al qaeda. >> juan, members of humanitarian aid group say the delivery of food and surprise has been a real bargaining chip in this conflict. do you think this has turned aid in to a political tool? >> this conflict certainly has made a political tool and i want to underline that that is a war crime. you are not allowed to starve out populations in this way. if you are fighting an insurgent group it's a throughout fight them. but you can't cut off the city where they are based and starve out the women and children. >> right now, what is the status? can you give us an update on the

conflict? what's the latest with the turkey shelling the base in aleppo? >> reporter: right. so there are all kind of moving pieces in syria. in the past couple of weeks the syrian army backed by russian air forces has made real strides in recovering control of much of the country. and now it's making a bid to take over aleppo. the northern kurdish population in syria has taken advantage of this situation to make its own play for a during dish enclave, the turks are very afraid of this development. they consider the kurds involved to be terrorists. and so they are shelling a military base in syria from the turkish border that the kurds have just taken over from muslim funds. lift rebels. >> what happens if the russians and syrian government takes over

aleppo? >> well, i think if they take aleppo, then game over. the civil war will gradually wind down. if they take aleppo, they can cut off the routes whereby turkey and saudi arabia and the united states have been supplying the rebels and the revolution will peter out. >> all right. juan cole, international affairs contributor. thank you. up next, money and politics. when we come back, a deeper look at how much cash is used in a presidential campaign. where it comes from and what it's used form a deeper look next. brazil launch a war on zika. how it's using military troops to stem the increase of new cases. and making the most out of the bitter cold weather. where ice fishing is more than a way of life. it's a tourist attraction.

the 2016 campaign is in full swing and money, how it's raised and spent has emerged as a major issue. tonight we take a deeper look at money and the 2016 campaign. just over six years ago the supreme court's citizens united ruling opened the flood gates for corporations and unions to spend money on campaigns and roll back a generation of campaign finance reform. candidates from both sides of the aisle have spoken out against the ruling. even as many of them rush to benefit from huge donations from

large companies and wall street banks. all but two of the major candidates count investment firms among their top 10 biggest contributors. meanwhile, republican donald trump and democrat bernie sanders have both insisted that their lack of wall street money makes them better suit today the presidency than their opponents. al jazeera's david shuster has more on how the contenders' finances are affecting their cam pains. >> reporter: from the first democratic debate in october. >> i believe in a society. >> reporter: in new hampshire. wealthy campaign contributors. >> reporter: barry sanders has not straight from his message that big money drives decision making in washington. >> we can no longer continue to have a campaign finance system in which wall street and the

billionaire class are able to buy elections? [cheering and applause] >> reporter: and his message is getting through. not just to voters who handed him a huge win in new hampshire against former second of state hillary clinton but by mrs. clinton herself who has been more forcefully sounding the same alarm. >> now senator sanders and i both want to get secret, unaccountable money out of politics. >> reporter: that unaccountable money, also known as dark money, comes from big spenders who do not have to identify themselves. an opportunity they were provided by a pair of supreme court rulings six years ago. in a case known as citizens united, the justices upheld the law that sets limits on donations to candidates themselves. a candidate can only raise $2,700 per donor for the primary and another $2,700 per donor for the general lex. but the gold rush comes because the court also ruled there are no limits on individual,

corporate and group donation to his independent political action committees. these are the groups known as super packs. >> let's remember, citizens united one of the worst supreme court decisions in our country's history was actually a case about a right wing attack on me and my campaign. >> reporter: the think tank center for responsible i was politics found in the second half of last year, super packs received $100 million. most from a handful of donors on both sides of the political aisle. while street banks have also thrown more than $100 billion at candidates in this election psych. republicans got the bulk of the money but some went to democrats including clinton, even as she talks tough about wall street while campaign. in the first republican debate last august, donald trump, who was funding his own campaign for the most part, pointed out even he has donate today candidates idonated to candidates inthe pal

favor. >> i give to everybody. when they call give. when i speed knead something for them two years later being three years later i call themmer, they are there. >> reporter: trump has called the campaign finance system probe edge. while sanderses and clinton are calling for complete reform. that resonates with most americans according to a new york times cbs poll from last year. is suggests that 66% of voters were wealthier voters have more i've chance to impact the lex process. 84% say money has too much influence on campaigns. and a combined 85% say the system has to either undergo fundamental changes or needs to be completely rebuilt. david shuster, al jazeera. >> joining me in the studio is brent ferguson, he is a council with the money and politics team at the brennan center for justice. and from washington, d.c., josh stewart, deputy communications directorate sunlight foundation,

thank you both for joining us. and, brent, i want to start with you, with you heard in the piece 84% of the voters feel money has too much influence on the campaigns, why is this such a hard thing to change? >> it's difficult for a number of reasons, one reason is supreme court decisions that said it violates the first amendment to limit from corporations and super pacs. >> whawhy do you think there ist a more simple way to move big money out of politics? >> i think that's an interesting question. there are many sort of reasons why. one is that the -- there is an agency that is responsible for this. it's the federal elections commission, right? and it's set up currently to be deadlocked at 3-3. and that doesn't allow for much oversight and sort of for many consequences to be had if campaigns or super pacs run amuck of the rules. >> i want you to talk about whether any proof that shows large donations have corrupted

elections in the united states. do you have any evidence of that? >> it's really hard to see if there is any proof of corruption, per se. rarely is there a preu quid pro. in shuster afternoons piece he discussed the key is influence. right? and corporations and other large individual donors that can give unlimited amounts to super pacs can put their fingers on the scales and have overwhelming influence on our elections. and sort of that is the sort of unfortunate and that is the larger issue here. >> all right. i want to talk a little bit about justice scalia's detective and how it will impact the election, brett. we wanted get your thoughts on this. surely this will drive fundraising in effect how both parties raise money. can you describe what you think on how it will have an impact on the election? >> certainly. first i want to say it's a tragedy br* i and a great floss justice ca lee's family and the

country he was a great legal mind and had tremendous influence over the last 30 years i think it could affect this election in opinion ways, the supreme court was already a main election because of the new york times poll cited before many people know the supreme court plays a great role in money and politics and going forward over the next couple of months the candidates will certainly point that out and whim know that it's likely that the next president will be able to replace several justices, and that can decide whether citizens united is overturned or we go to something better. >> i was going to ask you a little bit more about that. we have heard several of the candidates talking about their idea that they would only nominate somebody that would potentially overturn citizens united. can you describe what this is going to do? how this will impact the campaign and what you think we will see moving forward in this from the candidates? >> i think candidates will continues to say that. and some may say that citizens united is one of the most important issues for a potential supreme court nominee. certain candidates may say that they support citizens united and

the rights of corporations or other groups to spends unlimited money. and so they will make clear that their potential nominee will uphold citizens united. >> i want to pause for a minute to take a look at exactly how much money when we are talking about fundraising and in this 2016 election. in terms of campaign contributions, democrat hillary clinton and republican jeb bush lead the pack with more than $163,000,000.155 million respectively. senators ted cruz, marco rubio and bernie sands ters sanders hd between 75 and ninth million dollars, ben carson more than $64 million in dough nailses kasich and trump have the least amount of contributions each in the $20 million range. it's worth noting most of the bernie sanders money has been rage ed by individual donors in. this week's democratic presidential debate senator sanders spoke out strongly against hillary clinton's history of taking donations from

wall street banks. >> we had a decision to make early on. do we do a soup are pac. and we said no, we don't represent wall street. secretary clinton's super pac as i understand it received $25 million last reporting period. $15 million from wall street. >> the real issue that i think the senator is injecting in to this is that if you had a super pac like president obama had, which now says at any point to support me, it's not my pac. if you take donations from wall street, you can't be independent. let's not in any way imply here that either president obama or myself would in any way not take on any invested interest. >> let's not insult the intelligence of the american people. people aren't dumb. why in god's name does wall street make huge campaign contributions? i guess just for the fun of it. they want to throw money around.

>> josh, i want to start with you on this one. it seems like there is a lot of gray area. when it comes to what the super pacs can do, who can start one, how easy it is to conceal a donor's identity. how effective is the f.e.c. in overseeing this. is there moreover site necessary? and tkhoupbg it can impact what's going on right now? >> well, so it's sort of an interesting debate going on with super pacs, but in particular one of the more alarming elements that has a complete lack of transparency are the so-called dark money groups the 5o1c4 social welfare organizations they can spends unlimited amounts around elects and do not have to disclose their donors. currently the i.r.s., the internal revenue service which is in charge of these nonprofit groups as well as the federal election commission have abdicated their responsibility in materials of oversight. over these groups, right? and so that is one area where down the road it would be

critical to provide more transparency and moreover site and could give a lot more faith in our lexes. and another element of this is these 501c4s can also contribute to super pacs, super pacs have to disclose their donors, we have not seen that particularly on the democrat side yet. in terms of the presidential, but we have seen it a little bit on the republican side in terms of these dark money groups donate to go super pacs it's almost impacted the election in a big way and we can see that trends to only continue. >> josh, aside from federal oversight, we have seen some states trying to take action, trying to do things. take things in to their own hands on a smaller level. do you think that's where reform starts, is on the smaller level and the state level? >> yeah, absolutely. voters and the public have every right to sort of be frustrated with this, and you can see it in some of the rhetoric on both sides of the aisle. but the reality is, as sort of

gloomy as this prognosis can be, the reality is you do see some positive reaction from the states. and in the blue state like california, and a red state like texas, they have both taken steps to force some of these outside groups to disclose their donors and in terms of like larger election funding reform, we have seen that in maine and that sort of is a positive step. and i think you can look to the states to sort of react to what voters are concerned about and a lot of ways that's sort of the unaccountable unlimited money that's entering in to our elections and trying to influence them. >> josh stewart from the sunlight foundation and brent ferguson thank you both for joining us. breaking news out of new zealand. the city of christchurch has been hit by a strong earthquake. authorities have measured the quake at a magnitude of 5.7. local police say there have been no respected injuries. he several buildings evacuated and reports of large rocks

falling from cliff sides. next week marks the fifth anniversary of a 6.3 magnitude earthquake in new zealand that killed 185 people and caused billions of dollars in damage. pope francis continues his visit to mexico on sunday. his message for the governor of a country with the second highest number of catholic people in the world. and an all out war on seek actual the government of brazil sending out military troops to do battle with mosquitoes.

somalia's armed rebel group al-shabab has claimed responsibility for this month's bomb blast on a commercial airplane. authorities suspect a suicide bomber carried out the attack which forced the plane to make an emergency landing in

mogadishu on february 2nd. the suspect is believed to be the only person that died in the bombing after being sucked out of the hole cause ed by the ex-although he is. al-shabab said today it will continue to carry out similar attacks. pope francis is in mexico city tonight. it's the first full day of his trip to the world's second largest catholic country. during his week-long visit he plans to address immigration as well as the country's drug problems. al jazeera's adam raney filed this report from mexico city. >> reporter: pope francis capped off a busy day on saturday his first official day on a 5-day trip to mexico by celebrating a mass at the basilica of our lady of guadalupe. the virgin of guadalupe. he prayed at the cloth this bears this dark figured symbol. she's the patron saint the mexico and this image of her is one of the most potent cultural religious symbols in all of mexico. this came at the end of a busy

day in which he held church elites and political elites to count for the ongoing drug war that still racks this country after more than 10 years. he said because church officials, wish you bishops ands need to not hide behind their posts and careers but to preach directly to the poor in mexico who need their help to break free from the corruption and to break free these powerful criminal organizations that have made parts of mexico so violent. heed harsh words for the political elite. it was the first time the head of the vatican that ever entered that palace, he said the political elite need to make sure they don't enrich themselves and have this fertile ground for corruption that creates space for violent criminal groups to move in and wreak havoc and terror for the population of millions who live in certain parts of the country that the political elite needs

make sure that corruption is weeded out and truly give the mexican people what they need, the physical material and spiritual things they need to truly thrive in a country that he says is full of possibility. now, enrique peña neito the president of mexico has historically low approval ratings right now. so he's likely to embrace pope francis on th on this trip becae francis is an extremely popular figure in mexico he's the first latin american pope and these words as uncomfortable at they might be for the president and other elites in mexico are coming from this extremely popular figure and the president can only benefit from aligning himself with the pope at this time. >> the pontiff has a busy week ahead in mexico including a jam-packed sunday. tomorrow morning the pope will travel and hold mass. in the afternoon back for mexico city where he will pay a visit to sick children at a pediatric hospital and end the day by meeting with cultural representatives in the national

auditorium. brazil has declared war on the mosquito spreading the zika virus, 10s of thousands of troops were out with leaflets. the president dilma rousseff is the virus will not compromise the olympic olympics. >> reporter: more than 2,000 personnel from the brazilian army, may have and i air force were deployed across the country. handing out leaflets warning of the dangers of still or stag that water which is where the mosquito breeds. >> this is truly a war against the motto and the army forces are looking to use its kreud bit. as the population begins the see the size and scale of this operation with so many soldiers in the streets the population will realize this is a serious issue and everyone will do their part in their homes. >> reporter: the zika virus has been link to the birth in brazil of hundreds of babies with the brain defect my row severely. the same mows co case is dengue,

yellow fever and other viruses. >> translator: i am three months pregnant and here i am with long clothes and repellant, of course. >> reporter: rio will host the olympic games in august. and some athletes have already warned they are considering pulling out if the zika virus is not contained. >> reporter: the president dilma rousseff says that brazil will defeat the virus. >> translator: it's important to highlight that the virus has harmful effect for pregnant women we are carrying out an extremely focused operation to he can sturm nate the mosquito until we can develop a vaccine, certain cities will be prioritized one is rio for obvious reasons. >> reporter: other parts of brazil they are leading the education campaign. costing $120 million will continue with troops visiting more than 3 million homes to identify problem areas and distribute pesticides. similar operations are underway

across latin america, wherever the zika virus has been found. al jazeera,. america's coal country is celebrating a supreme court ruling, but it's decision to block an anti colborneing climate changing initiative doesn't mean the plan is completely dead. and braving the bitter cold to be fishing. how one town turned a local past time in to a tourist a track. and temperatures this everything are in a nose dive for most of the northeast. but we are going to be getting a break a little bit later until then, winds chills are in to the minus 30s. more on that that when i return right after this.

people living in america's coal country are celebrating a ruling by the supreme court. the justices temporarily blocked president obama's plan to combat climate change by regulating emissions from coal-fired power plants, al jazeera's tristin reports from gillett, wyoming, home to some of the country's largest mines. >> reporter: here in campbell county, wyoming, energy, oil, coal and natural gas dominates the landscape and the economy. gillett the county seat bills itself the energy capital of the nation. >> we have been through booms and busts, you know, that's kind of the way the energy business is. but this one is tough because both coal and oil is down, usually if one is up the other is down or, you know, so this one is tough. >> reporter: louise carter king is the mayor of gillett where an energy boom helped the population grow almost 50% since 2,000. coal right now, they are not talking about any lay offs.

and there hasn't been any so it's -- but i am sure everyone is worried. it would be tough not to be. >> reporter: can you think of what campbell county looks like without energy revenue coming in? >> bleak. you know, if oil doesn't come back, which it will. mine, it just has to. it would be -- it would be tough. >> reporter: people here are calling the collapse of global oil prices. the drop in control and president obama a perfect storm. >> coal still could come back. i mean, it's not going to be overnight that we have green electricity. >> reporter: steve king has been a coal miner for 30 years. he's also the mayor's husband. king says the environmental rules force campbell county's energy economy to essentially wage battle with itself. >> our biggest competition right now is the natural gas. >> reporter: the energy industry here is projected to lose $1 billion in value in the next

year. a 20% drop from 2015. tax revenue for campbell county will shrink. and thousands of high-paying jobs could disappear. >> monday through thursday is when you see a lot of your work-related travelers come to the hotel. and we have seen a dramatic decrease in that business. >> reporter: and it's not just campbell county's politicians or energy workers who are worried. he used to rent rooms by the thousands to energy workers at the 15 hotels his family owns in gillett. he invested in building two new hotels now that appears to be a gamble gone bad. >> reporter: how many people would you say you had to cut? >> probably around i would say 25 to 30 here. in jill let. and then maybe an additional 20 to 25 in some of our other locations. >> every job we lose in the coal industry is one we can't really

afford. >> reporter: this is the eagle butte mine. >> reporter: gary becker is the chairman of the campbell county commissioners. what are the impacts to campbell count we coal in the future. >> well it, will have considerable impact not only in campbell county but for the entire state of wyoming. while has come to rely on the coal industry for a lot of its taxes. local government cannot spends money it doesn't have. it's had a significant impact on the county is we have had to cut way back on the amount of money that we can put in to new building construction. >> reporter: such as? >> such as new museum, new buildings for our community college. library extractions, those type of things. >> reporter: it's the spirit of campbell count toy weather these boom and bust cycles but this time officials worry that oil and gas prices might not rise fast enough and that crushing market and regulatory pressures on the coal industry spell gloomy days for years to come.

tristan, al jazeera, campbell county, wyoming. three people died this morning in a pile up on interstate 78 in pennsylvania. state police say a passing snow squall may have caused the crash involving more than 50 vehicles. the accident happened on the highway twao*el between allentown and harrisburg, critically injured motorists were airlifted to area hospitals dozens more transported by glance, sudden white out conditions on the interstate just before the crash and it's very frigid and windy here as well, kevin is here with the weather. >> meteorologist: that's righting we are looking at the coldest air we have seen all winter long for the northeast and it's going to get cold over the next several hours. right now we are talking about six degrees in new york, over towards chicago, 11 and washington 16. and the reason being is we are looking at the jet stream really sinking across this area, allowing that poll or air to set -- polar air to set in and it will last through sunday, as we go towards monday and tuesday

we'll see a big difference. we'll show that you in just a minute. take a look at the currents temperatures with new york at six income being albany minus 8. and you add the winds to it and we have some very gusty winds right now. 25 miles an hour in boston, 28 in a albany. the low temperatures plus the winds means the winds chills are extremely low a is who the area and all of new england, new york, parts of penn are under either wind chill barney or watch all wait through tomorrow with winds chills down to possibly minus 45 degrees. so this is what they are towards midnight, new york is feeling more like minus 27 degrees. boston at minus 38. we put this in to motion all through the night. you can see how cold it is. especially up there towards new england a very dangerous situation if you have to be out. as we go towards tomorrow afternoon, new york gets a little better but as you can see all the way through new england we are still looking at minus single digits in terms of winds

chill. so that is a very dangerous situation there. tomorrow afternoon, highs go up to about the mid teens to the high teens for many locations about but we have a big change in place and that means those temperatures are really going to be popping back up. as we go towards monday 30 degrees in new york, 33 in washington, but take a look at this. we are looking much, much better as we go towards tuesday we are back in to the mid 40s, high 40s there, take a look out west, 90 degrees for los angeles. >> whoa. >> meteorologist: back to you. >> thanks a lot. a lot of people are looking for a place too keep warm but in minnesota the cold is a normal part of life that many people simply enjoy. a"america tonight's" adam may gd a look at this past time. >> reporter: fish american travel from across the country do this. sit and stair in to a hole. in subzero weather waiting for the big one.

lake minnetonka is one of the most popularize fishing spots in the twin cities. the minnesota department of natural resources issues more than a million fishing permits each year. >> it's nothing do in the winter. >> reporter: dan jasper has turned minnesota's favorite winter pascqoula past time in to a successful business. the ice fishing tour good drove us around the lake covered in 26-inches of ice. the frigid freeway enough to hold our heavy suburban. the roads lead to villages of ice fishing houses, but some are not your simple shacks to get out of the cold. >> most ice fishing houses are not as nice as this one, are they? >> no, no in, this is one of the nicest once on the lank minnetonka. it's more like a camper. heater, refrigerator, stereo, stove, sing. flat screen tv. >> reporter: so out here on lank minnetonka the fish houses definitely come in all shapes

and sizes. there is one big one everyone said we had to check out. it's called the bellagio and the owner alan scheppers invited us inside. hello. >> wow. this is incredible. alan's house has everything. an extreme ice fishing house. >> this is what we love to have you see. >> reporter: wow. how many holes do you have here in the fish house allen? >> there are 10 holes. we keep a full bar. >> reporter: a full bar here? >> yep, for everybody. >> reporter: everyone flavor manageable. and then the big screen it. tvs so we can watch football. before we put in the fireplace we could bring a four wheel never that door folds down and you can bring in in a four wheel never you want to. >> reporter: kind of makes me wonder how much fishing taking plays in these l.e.d. illuminated holes bubbling to prevent freeze over, but here is the proof. >> and then here is three species this muskie is out of

minnetonka right here. this is a wall eye i caught that one. you caught it ice michigan something. >> uh-huh. >> reporter: amidst the glam there are still some who do it the old-fashioned way. this father and son have huddled in a small tent every winter for years. it's not fancy, but to them, that's the point. >> it's our time together. our bonding time. a lot of times you get wrapped up in a business life and you are not able to get over and see your parents, you know, and -- >> reporter: slow down. >> right. this is our time to spend together. and it means the world to me. >> reporter: even if the fish aren't biting, the memories can be unforgettable. adam may, al jazeera, minnesota. looks beautiful from the comfort of a warm studio. well, thank you for joining us tonight, i am lori jane gliha in new york city. and don't forget, you can get the latest news on aljazeera.com. the news continues from doha next. good night.

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>> we honor his extraordinary service to our nation and remember one of the towering legal figures of our time president obama and the republicans gear up for a political fight over who will succeed the supreme court justice zcalia. tributes are paid to the justice at the presidential debate. donald trump says it's a terrible blow to conservatism.