thank you for being with us, and i'm tony, john seigenthaler is up next with more of today's >> tony, thanks, we begin in washington where the president is trying to make good on a campaign promise to close the guantanamo bay prison in cuba. the president promised to shutdown the facility before he leaves office and transfer the remaining detainees to prisons in the u.s. he asked the chronicles and american people to step back and look at the facts. >> a bruised and battle-weary obama was reduced to pleading with an unsympathetic congress to give his plan a chance. >> i don't want to pass this problem on to the next president, whoever it is.

if as a nation we don't deal with it now, when will we deal with it? are we going to let this linger on for another 15 years, another 20 years? another 30 years? >> over the years, some 800 prisoners have been held at guantanamo. of that more than 500 were released to other countries during the bush administration. president obama transferred 147 more and now there are just 91 left. what the pentagon sent congress was a four-point plan to deal with those 91 and permanently close the prison camp, which president obama argues is a stain on america's reputation and a recruiting tool for america's enemies. the plan would transfer 35 detainees already cleared for release to other countries by this summer accelerate eligibility reviews for other potential transfers. proceed with legal action against ten detainees including possible foreign prosecution and work with congress to find a way

to bring the other 46 to a secure facility in the united states. but for republicans in congress, the idea of bringing terrorist suspects to the u.s. is a total non-starter. especially among those aspiring to replacing the president. >> guantanamo is needed. we should not be releasing the killers who are rejoining the battlefield against the united states. >> obama argued removing detainees would save up to $85 million a year of the cost of guantanamo. and he says cases such as boston marathon bomber dzhokhar tsarnaev show that they do prosecute terrorists in the court. >> we're already holding a whole bunch of dangerous terrorists in the united states because we threw the book at them. and there have been no

incidents. we managed it just fine. >> one thing he didn't mention. something that the white house doesn't want to talk about but has not specifically ruled out. a lame duck president in the final months of his term could use his authority to issue an executive order bringing the remaining detainees to u.s. soil and closing guantanamo. but that could provoke a constitutional crisis. >> thank you. executive action could be the president's only remaining option. as jamie mentioned the new plan could be dead on arrival in the republican-controlled congress. libby casey in washington with more. >> john, good evening. republicans were quick to react tonight. they don't like the president's plan for two reasons. one, senators who come from states that hold prisons where pentagon has been looking at possibly removing detainees.

we're talking about colorado, they feel it's not safe to bring detainees to american soil. two, closing down guantanamo. >> the review of president obama's plan since it includes bringing dangerous terrorists to u.s. facilities he should know that the bipartisan will of congress has been expressed against that proposal. >> and in congress i recognize in part because of some of the fears of the public that have been fanned oftentimes by misinformation, there continues to be a fair amount of opposition to closing guantanamo. if it were easy it would have happened years ago as i've been working to try to get done. but there remains bipartisan support for closing it. and given the stakes involved

for our security this plan deserves a fair hearing. >> john, you will note that those senators mcconnell and president obama talked about having bipartisan support on their side, they may have lost that the many years this has dragged on. we'll continue to see that on capitol hill. there may an hearing but don't expect it to be a place of real dialogue. the expectation is it will be a place for the republicans to push back on the president's plan. >> not much support in congress. we talked about executive action. what might that look like? >> this is a very crucial question. the president has used his power as commander in chief to issue orders on climate change, gun control. but closing guantanamo will be a lot more complicated. congress has specifically expressed that the white house cannot act on a couple of

important methods. the white house can't use federal funds to move detainees to the united states. there want be much of an effort to set up any plans moving forward, to move detainees to the u.s. without congress expressly approving of that. so if the white house wants to push back on those laws and go ahead and try to use executive action, many are split on just where the white house authority begins and end. you can expect legal challenges and a lot of questions about just how much power president obama has. the even bigger implication, john, political fall out. does problem want to give that controversial fight to democratic candidates running for president in 2016? that's a question that the administration is certainly asking itself. >> the director of the center of national security at fordham law

school. she's in studio tonight. welcome. >> thanks. >> what do you make of this plan? >> obama's plan? >> mm-hmm. >> not surprising. probably doable if he can get some kind of buy-in. it's his way of saying i'm not going to executive action. i'm going to give the country a chance to do this procedurally. he has enough time to know that if he fails he has another option. >> he made a campaign promise. is eight years a little too little too late? >> it's too little too late if you're not so worn down by the arguments that you're just grateful to have it close. i think a lot of people are in that category. the problem with the plan if you think about it in the large scale is not the politics of it, but the fact that he'll keep indefinite detention. that's what you mean by too little, too late. >> you and others have looked at this carefully. is this the plan you would put forward to close guantanamo?

>> at this late date? >> yes. >> the plan i would have put forth to close guantanamo would have happened before i made announcements for presidency i in 2009. in hindsight i think the president would say the same thing. is this the plan? no, if it is whiting down the detainee category, those who are not yet cleared for release they'll go more frequently before periodic review board and in other words he'll take people off that list. that's the key to actually clo closing guantanamo and ending detention. >> let's look at those numbers. there are 91 now total detainees. 35 approved for transfer. ten of them currently under review. 46 of them deemed unreleasable? what is ru unreleasable. >> they're too dangerous to

release. that could mean a variety of things. the ten are those who have been charged by military commissions like 911 commission and, etc. >> what happens if knows unreleasable people are brought to the united states and put into prisons? what happens. >> very good question. i think what will happen is their defense attorneys will say we do not have indefinite detention. they'll try to get them charged. that's what they want. get them charged or get them released. that's what a lot of republicans and others are worried about the entire time. it's a mess. there are a lot of us, myself included, this says look, if you don't have the evidence like in any other case, you have to let them go. this is going to be a very population, my prediction is, by the time it gets to obama he''s

presidency. >> these are dangerous people. >> right. >> you're bringing dangerous people from cuba into the united states, into american communities. >> they're not coming into american communities. they're coming--if they're brought here under the plan, they're coming here to either federal penitentiaries. >> what if they get out? i'm just telling you that's the argument being made. >> let me push back in three ways. one, we keep people in max security prisons all the time or in the super max, and we trust our law enforcement authorities to keep them there, and if we don't trust them, then we have a much deeper problem than guantanamo. that's first thing. second, why are all these plans like getting el chapo here? really? there are other dangerous criminals we want here, that we want to prosecute, try and keep here. why are terrorists any different. the third is that we really need to get a grip on the fact that

nobody is out there saying why don't we want the people who committed 911, the 911 in our custody in this country? it's kind of mind boggling that no one has made that argument in a public way. we should want to keep those people we try and convict on terrorists here rather than offshore or in another country. >> you really believe that after the president presents his plan that guantanamo will close during his-- >> i've always believed that it's going to close. >> i meanwhile president obama is in office. >> i do, i do. >> you believe it will close? >> i believe it will close, on his terms which is we'll keep indefinite detention. it's not a purist definition. how? i think that obama is going to put all his eggs in his basket after having used them up in other ways before. i think the population of those who are not--who are kept in indefinite is going to be smaller than anybody can imagine right now as a periodically they

meet nor frequently and release people. and that there would an population that they may decide they can either try some of who may decide to plead guilty. if not, impossible, and that that may be what happens going forward. >> we'll see whether or not your predictions are true. it's good to see you. thank you very much. >> now, to nevada where the republican caucuses are under way and donald trump is looking for his third straight win. a senior political correspondent michael shure is in los angeles tonight. michael, what are the candidates saying about the president's announcement? >> well, the candidates have all spoken about it, marco rubio spoke stridently against it. hillary clinton said that guantanamo has inspired more terrorism that it has imprisoned terrorists. but it was donald trump, as you can imagine, who was the most, i would say, exclamatory about his feelings and the president and

guantanamo. >> we spent $40 million a month on maintaining this--think of it, $40 million a month. i think we have--what do we have left in there, 100 people? we're spending $40 million--i would guarantee you that i could do it for a tiny, tiny--i don't mean like 39--i think maybe 5, maybe 3, maybe like peanuts. maybe in our deal with cuba we'll get them to take it over and reimburse us because we're probably paying rent. >> so he's the only candidate who seems to want to turn guantanamo into a business. >> i've been looking at what has happened in las vegas for the last several days now, and i don't believe i've quite ever seen or heard some of the things that the candidates are saying like they're saying this time.

donald trump, marco rubio hope to go slow his momentum. what will it take for that to happen? >> you know, it's hard. it has not been figured out yet. it's not just been as you know, las vegas, it's been this entire season. this entire campaign where you're hearing things like you never heard before. marco rubio is trying to shore up his support, trying to present himself as the uniter of this party that he says is so divided. what it will take for rubio is winning some contests. he has not done that yet. he'll have to win a few contests and it likely won't happen here tonight in nevada where caucu caucusing began 20 minutes ago. ted cruz said he's still the best alternative to donald trump and the only true conservative alternative that the republicans really have. >> we haven't talked about john kasich lately. it seems i in the last cycle he has momentum but there were suggestions that the party establishment wants him to get

out of the race. what are you hearing? >> it's very interesting. i spoke to the kasich campaign and the people at the republican national committee. there are those who are saying step aside because you're the impediment to marco rubio. this guy finished in third place, second place and he's not the standarder bearer of this party just yet. we're going to keep going. you know, john kasich was chairman of the budget committee in congress. he's not the kind of guy who will listen to higher ups and say get out of the way. he thinks he has a chance to unite the party. he looks to ohio on the 15th of march. that's where he feels he'll make his play and no republican has ever won the white house without ohio. he said he can put that in his back pocket if he's the nominee. >> we'll see what happens in las vegas, nevada, later on tonight. michael, great to see you, thank you very much. the democrats are doing battle in south carolina.

hillary clinton is beating bernie sanders in the polls there. in part due to her big lead among black voters but sanders got an endorsement that could help him make up some ground. john terrett is in columbia, south carolina. john? >> yes, possibly, john, good evening from columbia. it's difficult to say one or another if bernie sanders has the endocks of the of the civil rights activist danny glover. and now spike lee has come out and endorsed bernie sanders in a radio ad. spike lee is another civil rights campaigner. the problem is it's all very good to have spike lee endorsing you and it's better to have him than not have him at all. but how do you translate a recommendation from spike lee into actual votes? it kind of validates the sanders campaign. but it does not really do any more than that. it is not a ringing political

endorsement. remember, this is all about the african-american vote here. the biggest constituency in the democratic vote in this primary on saturday. so both sides are appeal to go that african-american vote. however, at the moment it seems generally speaking to be going the clinton way, john? >> so what are we going to look to hear from the two candidates at tonight's town hall in south carolina? >> well, it's taking place right here. university of south carolina just down the road from where i'm speaking to you from. already bernie sanders electing to first, and we're told that hillary clinton was quite happy about that. there were two questions. one on gun control and the key issue for him, the key to free education. this is an opportunity for him to show that not only can he be progressive but proactive and actually get things done. we're looking at the secretary to be less than a wonk that she sometimes is. she's very good on the numbers. sometimes she comes off a little bit cool. she needs to be warmer,

friendly, relating her policy ideas and relating to ordinary people who live their lives. as for the african-american voters here hillary clinton had an event in columbia, the capital, and she did tonight what she has been doing for a very long time, that is appea appealing directly to that constituency. >> my friends, we need real justice and accountability across america. we need to face the reality of systemic racism, and we need to break down all the barriers in our economy and society that holds people back and disproportionately hold back african-americans. >> as of this minute secretary clinton is 24 points ahead of bernie sanders in the polls running up to saturday's primary. so the sanders campaign know that they have an uphill battle. that may be one reason, john, that bernie sanders will not be in this state for the next two

days. he's campaigning elsewhere and returns for the primary on friday. >> john terrett in south carolina. thank you. republican joe watkins is former id to former president joh george w. let me just start with the republicans. this has become an intense sort of intense name calling. i don't know what to call it. in nevada between donald trump, ted cruz and marco rubio. is this all a function of the way donald trump has run his campaign, how successful he has been? is that the way you see it. >> clearly he has got cruz playing the game he plays. it does not hurt him as much because people don't expect him to be politically correct. he doesn't have to play by the rules that politicians and elected officials have to play by. he also has a brand. and his brand so well regarded

on national television was a brand where he said, you're fired. so when he's a tough guy, a blunt guy who is outspoken who is not politically correct. he's just staying in character. right now they're both battling for second place in nevada. that's nowhere you want to be. if you can't show you can win a primary outright then what chance do you have being in the party's nominee. >> some say if john kasich drops out, those votes won't go to donald trump. but if ben carson drops out, does donald trump have a chance of picking up those votes? >> yes, he said it himself. after the primary. he said don't assume just because people who voted for another candidate didn't vote for me, that i won't get those votes later on.

i mean, jeb bush pulled out. people suppose those votes go to marco rubio. not necessarily. some of those votes might go to cruz, rubio and some might go to trump. voters think who is going to win? who has the big lest likelihood of being the party's nominee. the person who voters think has the biggest chance of being a nominee donald trump has a chance to pick up those votes from the candidates. and john kasich isn't going anywhere because he knows that ohio is a winner take all state, and it's his home state and it's a state that he thinks he can do well in and maybe win. that will present a problem for rubio going in the next few weeks. >> in the last few days we've seen a rush of endorsements to marco rubio. he has picked up some money, some fundraising as well. what do you here? are they going to make an effort

to stop donachie trump? if they can't, then what? >> some republicans have come to the cone inclusion that donald trump is likely to be the party's nominee. and the way people see it just depends on your advantage point. if you're a member of the house our senate you're figuring out who is nominee, i have to see how that effects me if i'm up for re-election, and every member of the house is up for election this year, not all the members of the senate. they have to look at how it effects the re-election chances if they're a candidate this year. many have resigned themselves that donald trump could be the party's nominee. some are even comfortable with that. others who are not comfortable with that because donald trump knows he owes nobody. he doesn't accept bundled checks. he doesn't have some of the bundlers that some of the other candidates have. marco rubio has assumed some of jeb bush's bundlers, people who raise money on behalf of the candidate. those people, of course, block

to rubio because rubio is in the eyes of many the best chance for an establishment candidate to perhaps win the nomination. but it's a delegate count at this point. you have to look at what the math pathway is to winning the nomination. and as we go further, i mean, i expect trump to win tonight and to do very well on super tuesday. the math becomes harder for both cruz and rubio to say that they're going to be the party's nominee. >> it's a new day in the republican party. thank you very much. >> thanks, john. >> coming up next, syria's war. a planned break in fighting set to begin this weekend 3, but on the border of turkey the fight with isil rages on. apple fights with the fbi on a battle over privacy protecti protection.

>> now there is a pause in

fighting in syria, secretary of state john kerry said that the agreement reached with russia is the best path forward to ending five years of war. the temporary cease-fire is set to begin saturday. but now the violence continues. >> on the offensive and making gains, isil fighters say they're taking the aleppo countryside. the group said that it has killed a number of government forces. ending fighting fighters are fighting for the forcing which was dominated by the syrian kurdish fighters known as ypg. monitoring developments closely is turkey. with regards ypg as a terrorist group operating under the

kurdistan workers party the pkk. turkey said it won't stand by if kurdish fighters move against the rebels. >> chaos, syria is exporting terrorism. turkey is suffering the most from the threat and being effected from the attacks rooted in syria. >> now there is a chance that the deal reached between the u.s. and russia will bring some kind of cease-fire by saturday. that deal excludes isil, and rebel groups that will not commit to a cessation of hostilities. the syrian opposition wants international guarantees that the government in damascus and rush will not target rebel groups. while the government in damascus says it will accept the partial truss it warned rebel groups not

to attempt to strengthen their positions during any pause in the fighting. al jazeera. >> the cdc is investigating 14 new reports of the chuza virus in the u.s. the all the men recently traveled to areas with outbreak there is no evidence that women can transmit the disease but more research needs to be done. we'll have more on this later in the program. coming up, fighting and child marriage around the world is right here in the united states. and top republicans double down on a promise not to hold hearings on a supreme court nominee. how a top democrat is helping make their case. and caught on tape, a crash landing in california where amazingly no one was hurt.

a disturbing video has gone viral. it shows a much older man

marrying a young girl. the scene is staged. it is from an organization group working to ban child marriage. child advocates say it is also happening in the united states. erica pitcy has more. >> posing for wedding photos. a man much older than his bride. the scene is staged. the bride and groom are actors. many are not aware. and many are disgusted by the spectacle. and some step in to object. and the groom responds. >> the video, which has gone viral was produced by an international advocacy organization hoping to raise awareness of child marriage in countries where taking a child bride is legal. >> we watched the video which has gone viral with activist freddie reese who was working to ban child marriage. >> this is in lebanon.

this is a country far away from here. yet, you're saying this is happening here in the united states? >> this is legal in the united states, and this is happening in the united states. >> reese was 19 and living in new jersey when her parents arranged her marriage. she was an adult but felt she had no choice in the matter. >> because of the way that i was raised and in an insular religious community and the way arranged marriage was practiced in that community, i did not have the chance to give consent. >> within a week she knew that her marriage was wrong. her husband was abusive. threatened to kill her several times although he never actually hurt her. >> i was trapped. >> after 12 years she finally found the courage to take her two daughters and leave him. she was able to found "unchained at last" helping hundred women and girls escape forced marriages. >> it's shocking. it's legal for child someone under the age of 18 to get married. that's shocking enough.

the second shocking part is that child marriage is happening. it's not just archaic laws on the books. people are using these laws and children are getting married. most of them are girls and most of them with married to adult men. >> the minimum marriage age in every state is 18. but many have exceptions to allow people under the age of 18 to we had. allowing 16 and 17-year-old's to mayo marry if there is parental con sense. in new jersey, the age of concept is 16 and minors younger than that can marry if they're pregnant. >> we recognize that a child cannot really consent. imagine a long-term relationship in a sexual relationship of this magnitude. we have to accept that even if a child says yes, that it's at a certain age it's really not a yes. >> once a minor is married in many states they're considered

minors under the law making it difficult for them to take any legal action including divorce. >> in essence what we're telling children, you're allowed to get married but you're not allowed to get divorced. we're telling girls at an age who are most likely going to experience domestic violence, good luck with that. >> reese' group is working to change the laws in the united states to ban child marriages all together. the fight is taking place one state at a time. with legislation introduced in maryland, virginia, new york, and new jersey. nothing has passed yet leaving american children as vulnerable as the young girl portrayed in the video. >> imagine if that little girl had called you and asked for help and you have to say, i'm sorry, i can't help you. or you worked with her for months and tried everything you could to get her out, and then after all your hard work there was nothing you could do, and you never heard from her again and you knew that she was married.

it needs to stop. >> when it comes to consummating a marriage, well, there are laws to protect girls from statutory rape but those laws do not help them when they become wives. another disturbing fact, according to the "world health organization," child brides are more likely to attempt suicide the third leading cause of death among adolescents. >> thank you. we continue the conversation. the senior policy manager at the international center for research on women. she's in washington tonight. so many questions pop into my head. the first how does this happen? but where does this come from? what is the basis, religion? >> thanks, john, thanks for having me, and thanks for covering this important issue, which is very close to my heart, and i believe the hundred rights abuse of our time. it's a complicated question. where is this coming from? it's an intermingling of factors

from poverty to just discriminatory attitudes and gender norms that value girl-children less than boys. certainly culture and religion do play a role, but i want to--i want to emphasize that this isn't unique to any religion. we see this practice happening across the globe regardless of region, regardless of state, islam, christianity, buddhism, you name it. the factors underpinning that are larger than any one religion. >> what are those factors? >> so as i was mentioning, you know, you look at poverty, for instance. that might an push factor in a place where you have in the 2012 droughts, we saw rising food prices and families taking very rational look at the balance sheet and saying all right, i can't afford to feed all the

mouths. the girls can marry into somebody else's home. why don't i accelerate that process and someone else can feed her. or there are could very strict norms around sex all the and what opportunities a girl has, and in the sense that let's go ahead and marry her off before she gets to an age where she might make bad decisions that might look bad on the family. these are larger issues that are brokered with girls' lives and constricting their choices and very rarely entered into by girls themselves. >> we mentioned the story in the united states. this happens it happens in countries around the world. it's not that common in the united states. but it is common in a number of countries around the world. what are some of those contributes? >> well, i would like to back up and say that the data we're looking at and the data from the united nations 2014 more than 700 million women around the world today were married at

children. 15million girls a year. that's striking, certainly, but i want to emphasize that the data we have for the global picture is much more comprehensive than we have domestically. they've done some studies, and they've seen 3,000 cases of forced child marriage in the united states within a four-year period. but the data isn't great here. there is great activists working on that. globally, you know, we see the highest rates of the practice happening in sub-sahara africa, the numbers there are higher there and south asia, but this is an every-where problem. >> 2016, and it's hard to imagine that when you look at that video that it's going on. is this willational? i know in some societies it's partly religion and backed up by the legal system, by a

male-dominated legal system. it seems to me that you have to change a lot of things before you can get to this issue. is that right? >> well, it's a challenge, but it's also an opportunity. because it means that everyone has a part to play. there was discussion about changing age of marriage laws at the state level in the u.s. that certainly is true globally. we want to be sure that children are not allowed to marry regardless of parental exceptions. judicial exceptions. pregnancy is often regarded as a reason for child marriage. so certainly change the law. but this also has economic factors. so we're talking about making sure the extreme poverty that might be a push factor to cause families to marry girls off is addressed. it's also education. let's make sure that girls are in school. there is date that that the longer a girl goes t--stays in school, the older she is when she marries. and girls have a right to say

no. they have a right to say who they will marry. if they don't know that there is no negotiation that will happen with the parents, religious leader and whatever force it is that is driving this at this time. and we have to have conversations within our communities, our religious institutions and more broadly about giving girls opportunities to be girls and not brides. >> as you said at the beginning, this segment it is an important issue. i think there are a lot of people who don't know the sort of numbers. i was not aware of this sort of enormous numbers that you described earlier in the broadcast. it's good to see you, thank you very much. >> thanks, john. >> the battle over the springboard justice seat left behind by the passing of justice antonin scalia is heating up. the republicans have vowed they won't consider any nominee appointed by president obama until after the 2016 general election. the democrats have accused the

republicans of stalling. >> the republicans doubled down saying they will not hold hearings, they will not confirm and won't even meet with obama's pick for the next supreme court justice. justice days after justice antonin scalia was laid to rest. the battle lines over the replacement are clear. the top two senate republicans said they will not cooperate with president obama. >> i believe the overwhelming view of the republicans in the senate is that this nomination should not be filledish this vacancy should not be filled by this lame duck president. >> senate majority leader mitch mcconnell urged president obama against submitting a name. saying they will not be considered or confirmed. that pick should be left to the next president. >> it's not about the personality. it's about the principle. the principle being that it's up

to the american people in this next election no matter who they choose, to make the nomination for this important seat on the supreme court. >> republicans are using vice president joe biden's own words against the white house. >> in 1992, then senator biden urged the republican president to hold off on choosing a supreme court nominee. >> president bush consider following the practice the majority of his predecessors and not--and not name a nominee until after the november election is completed. >> biden announced that was out of context and about a hypothetical since a vacant seat did not happen back then. >> understand joe has made a few statements over the years about a lot of things. but in this one instance it really doesn't mean a thing because nothing was pending. >> did he make a mistake about saying that. >> no, he has a right to speak. >> the white house repeatedly

said it will send a nomination to the senate and hopes to find fractures from the republicans. two moderates said they would break ranks to vote on a nominee. >> this would be an historic and unprecedented acceleration of politicizing a branch of government that is of supposed to be insulated from politics. >> it's unprecedented ground. republicans refusing to even meet with a nominee and democrats refuse to go back down. >> the american people sent us here to do a job, plain and simple. it's time for senate republicans to do their job. >> president obama's choice will aveal a lot in whether he expects to satisfy republicans or perhaps for the confrontation to escalate. we're expecting a name within the next couple of weeks. >> all right, jonathan betz. thank you very much. a judge has denied bail for the uber driver in kalamazoo, michigan, charged with killing six people in a shooting rampage

saturday. 45-year-old jason dalton switched vehicles after sid the killings. dalton has not entered a plea yet. in the south 16 tornadoes have been reported in three states. mississippi, alabama where the oh glovers hav governors has declared states of emergency. high winds causing widespread damage. >> meteorologist: we'll see a lot more activity through the evening and into tomorrow. in texas, where the storm started we saw a lot of wind damage across parts of texas and houston as well. then today we started to see the intensity of the storm really push into parts of the louisiana, mississippi, and now alabama and florida. that's where we're looking. i want to show you where the tornadoes had been reported across the region.

here across the western part of baton rouge and then southern mississippi as well as northwestern parts of alabama. two people died in louisiana. one person has died in parts of mississippi. and the warnings and watches are still out. look at what we're seeing. parts of new orleans, the toronto watches are still in effect. a lot of warnings had been dropped in parts of mississippi. but here in alabama we're seeing two warnings still in effect as here in florida. that is a new warning. what we're going to be seeing for the rest of the evening these watches and warnings are going to continue to move over here towards the east. that will continue through tomorrow. so the threat right now is along the gulf coast. the threat tomorrow is going t to be up here across parts of the carolinas where those thunderstorms are going to continue. >> thank you. saudi arabia's oil minister took center stage at the global energy conference in houston. he said his country supports an

output freeze but don't expect production cuts any time soon. john hedron has more from houston. >> the last time the saudi oil minister saw the skyline was after the global economic crash of 2008. >> they only invite me in a crisis. >> many oil executives would like to see a coordinated cut in production with a line consciously borrowed from the movie "wall street." >> greed for the lack of a better word is good. >> he offered assurance in an industry in crisis. >> ladies and gentlemen, fossil fuels are good. >> but he dashed all hopes that saudi arabia would slash production. >> there is no sense wasting our time seeking production cuts. they will not happen. what will happen, we will all find it ease to freeze

production. let demand rise. let some inefficient supplies decline, and eventually the market will balance. >> saudi arabia has already joined qatar, russia and venezuela to freeze prices at relatively high january levels. but analysts say a freeze is unlikely to turn the market around any day soon. >> i think the perez would not change the market dynamics that much because four or five countries talking about the freeze, the they do not expect an increase in production. >> that leaves the oil industry in crisis for the foreseeable future. the market won't rebound until next year and oil now at $30 a barrel won't hit $80 until 2018. and already it's effecting prices in oil-producing nations. >> they say it will take years for oil to return to pre-crash

levels. >> that will happen sometimes next year. but we will not see a rebound in the market over $100 a barrel. >> another forecast of a long dry spell for oil. john hedron, al jazeera, houston. >> an u.n. aviation agency is calling for the total ban on lithium ion batteries as cargo on passenger planes. they warn that the rechargeable batteries are a fire risk. the ban will take effect on april 1st and will not effect non-passenger cargo planes. it will last until new packaging is available to transport those batteries. now to southern california where single-engine plane crash landed on a city street. the plane hit five vehicles and ripped off its wing while landing yet. incredibly no one was injured. witnesses say they heard the

plane's engine stall before the accident just one block from the airport still ahead why bill gates says that the debate between apple and the fbi isn't clear. and catching zika, can it be transmitted through sex? new cases raising fears here in the united states. right after this.

>> amendment plans to argue in court that congress should sell settle its battle with the fbi. the agency wants apple to unlock an iphone that belonged to one of the san bernardino shooters while tech companies like google and twitter are supporting apple's fight microsoft co-founder bill gates said that apple should help the fbi. >> it's totally the government has gone to phone companies and banks and lots of companies to gather information. it's a good debate to be having. i'm hopeful that government safeguards and it verse country to country, will be enough that people feel like this can work.

>> today rallies some rallies have popped up in support of apple across the country. jake ward is in san francisco with more. jake? >> john, can you imagine multi national corporation that is actively standing in the way of an fbi investigation into a mass murderer is getting support, people are voluntarily showing up at apple stores across the country to show their support for this company. such is the world that we live in. that kind of public support combined with the very public jousting between fbi director james comey and the publicity apparatus of apple has made this single court case into something much larger. >> the battle over access to a single iphone has become a war for public opinion. on sunday james comey posted an open letter on a national security blog. we don't want to break anyone's encryption or send a master key loose on the land.

i hope thoughtful people will take the time to understand that. but on tuesday people were gathering all over the country to signal their solidarity with the world's richest technology company. >> the chairman of the senate richard burr, who had been considering a bill to criminalize the company's refusal to help with the encryption has backed away from the possibility. apple has until friday to file its opposition to the government's order for assistance. but in the meantime both the fbi and apple are airing similar language of what they would like to see happen next. director comey wrote that instead of the fbi deciding privacy the question should be resolved by the american people deciding how we want to governor ourselves in a world we've never seen before. while apple, in a letter to customers apple suggested that the government, quote, form a commission or other panel of intelligence and technology to

discuss privacy and personal freedoms. meanwhile the phone in question sits somewhere in fbi custody, it's secrets intact. >> the extraordinary thing about this is that both the fbi director, apple's top leaders, and bill gates all say they don't really know what the solution is here. to hear the fbi direct waxing poetic talking about how our phones are a reflection of our personality in addition to containing our private information. this is a very sensitive and very important turning point in the fight between technology and privacy. >> jake, thank you. take a look at this story. a new report shows that federal marshals have been using cell phone trackers known as stingrays to hunts for suspects across the country. the u.s. marshal service confirmed it's use of the device while responding to a freedom of information act request from "usa today." it indicated the technology was used 6,000 times in the u.s.

stingrays simulate cell phone towers and can track the cell phone within just a few yards. investigators sonya shaw shows you how hard it is to fight a pandemic.

>> arthur sonya shaw wrote the book on pandemics.

she has been following the zika virus very closely as it spreads throughout the americas. we asked her if she considers it to be a pandemic. >> if you pandemic as an outbreak of disease in one part of the world and then it spreads, then zika is definitely a pandemic. we've known about zika since the 40s, but now it's spreading really fast in the americas. it's taking advantage of a lot of things that other are taking advantage of. it looks like zika virus can actually sort of collect in people's bodily fluids. it's actually more commonly found in--easily found in european, saliva, and sexual fluids like semen.

now it seems that it is spreading easier than we thought. the fact that it can spread through sex means that this virus can expand its range beyond where the mosquitoes can live. i think this is a pandemic that will wash over the entire range where the mosquito lives also filter out into other parts of the world through sexual transmission and other modes. we don't know exactly how it's causing the complications it seems to be associated with. the birth defects in babies and this very severe autoimmune reaction. so you know, that means that it can spread a lot farther. most people don't have symptoms. that means the virus does not show itself. it's more invisible to us. so it can spread a lot farther and it's more prevalent than we already know. >> you can learn more, much more on sonya's new book" pandemic:

tracking contagions from cholera to ebola and beyond." i'm jonathan seigenthaler. al ali velshi is next. >> i'm ali velshi, on target tonight - hitting the brakes. red light cameras setting up to make streets safer, also making money for cities. quick cash that is hard to stop in more ways than one. i'm talking tonight about two subjects that don't usually end up in the same conversation. one is the number of people killed or injured in traffic accidents in american cities. and