journey to a museum. it is recognized as the first locomotive to exceed speeds of 100 miles an hour, or 160 kilometers an hour. the 10-year restoration has cost almost $6 million. more on the website, aljazeera.com. ♪ deadly storms tear up property and take out power up and down the east coast. [ cheers ] bernie sanders takes his campaign west, days before the south carolina primary. this case is about the future. >> apple versus the fbi. the company's ceo comparing hacking a phone to cancer, and now it's working on a new phone that you won't be able to hack at all. and an ancient type of farming that uses a lot of fish, but not

much dirt. could it be the answer to feeding the world's growing population? ♪ virginia's government for has declared a state of emergency, severe storms and as many as 16 tornados tearing through the mid-atlantic state. this is al jazeera america live in new york city. i'm del walters. at least seven people are dead after two days of violent weather. four of them dying wednesday in virginia where the guard has been called in to help clean up. >> reporter: the winter storm that slammed the south brought its rage to north and east overnight. in virginia at least four people died, the result of tornados. >> it picked up about three feet off of the ground and then just dropped it straight down. >> reporter: the town of

waiverly took a direct hit, three of his neighbors, two adults, and a toddler were killed. around four dozen tornados have wreaked havoc since tuesday. from louisiana to a twister that destroyed an rv park. >> god let us get through this. >> there are family members calling in that has not made contact with loved ones, and that they know were in this area. >> reporter: and then to the florida panhandle. the storms brought flash flooding to the washington, d.c. area. the winds, were strong enough in new york city to every turn a tractor trailer. and in the midwest there were white-out blizzard conditions. in indiana firefighters had to come to the rescue of drivers stuck when the snow became too deep to continue. >> we found about 30 cars stuck

in the snow. >> reporter: hundreds of thousands of customers lost power throughout the u.s. half of those in new york and new jersey. and the danger isn't over yet, nickel mitchell has more. >> yes, this has been a very potent system. this is the radar going back in time to yesterday evening when the storms were coming through, and all of these pings, especially the orange ones, but they are all reports of bad weather. we had over 300 wind records of high and damaging winds. and of course a little bit on the southern edge, there were also those tornado reports. the severe weather has continued to clear out through the morning. today, though, we still have areas that have seen anywhere from michigan into ohio for example, down the appalachians, still picking up some snow, most is light and winding down, but

because of that and the wind it is still going to cause of concerns. tomorrow, though, we actually clear out the region pretty nicely, so this storm system has been plaguing us for a few days now. really starting on tuesday and then it trekked up the coastline. so a nice dry break is appreciated. in the meantime temperatures will be tumbling behind this system. we'll have the colder air ushering in. but then some rebounding after that. otherwise with our temperature picture, we head westward, some of these temperatures 10 to 20 above average. ash carter is on capitol hill today. he is also being asked about north korea and the president's plans to close the prison at

guantanamo bay. jamie a lot of topics but the defense secretary saving some of his most pointed comments about china. >> that's right. there is a wide range of top iics that are of concern to the members of congress, specifically about whether the budget is adequate to face the threats, and a lot of concern about the new threats posed by both moscow and beijing. >> russia and china are our most stressing competitors, as they both develop and continue to produce military systems. we saw in the south china sea, and we see it in crimea and syria as well. >> you heard the term anti-access, that's what they refer to when a military power is trying to deny someone else freedom of movement, and that is what is happening according to

the general, the nation's top military officer in the south china sea, where china continues to build up those islands, and then put armaments and planes on the islands. he said that is an attempt by china what used to be basically a land-based military, to become a maritime power and have dominance over that area. and he said he doesn't like the trend. >> we are capable today of meeting our obligations in the pacific, and there is no doubt in my mind that we have a competitive advantage over china today. it's equally clear were we to not maintain an investment profile as outlined in the current budget we would lose our competitive edge. >> reporter: one of the things that was interesting is that secretary carter talked about a lot of high-tech futuristic

weapons, including drones that would be made on 3-d printers, new anti-ship missiles, and a new development on water drones. and then in a little bit of irony, the members of the committee complained that the pentagon was cutting its budget too much, not funding enough of these future programs, and the general turned that around on the committee, and complained that congress was cutting the budget too much by failing to pass a timely budget and failing to lift the restrictions of sequestration. >> and jamie what about syria? any conversations about syria, and the fact that they are trying to get that humanitarian aid in there, and the session accusation of actives that we hear so much about? >> reporter: yeah, that is supposed to be sort of taking effect as we're speaking. it's a complicated process where they are distributing maps to

the various parties, and setting up a system so people can report ceasefire violations. it's unclear how that is going to play out. but the pentagon insists that whatever happens between the warring parties in syria, the war against isil will continue, because isil and other groups identified as terrorists groups by the u.n. are not part of this agreement del. >> jamie thank you very much. it now appears that isil is taking aim at silicon valley. this video threatening mark zuckerberg and this man. it was created by an isil affiliate. and there are new developments this morning in apples battle with the fbi over underlocking that encrypted i

phone. the fbi director saying that the issue sheds light on the ongoing division between the fbi and silicon valley. >> i step back and say, law enforcement, which i'm part of, really does save people's lives. rescue kids. rescue neighborhoods from terrorists, and we do that a whole lot through court orders that are search warrants, and a whole lot through search war rents of mobile devices. we are going to move to a different world. >> those comments come amid reports that apple is working on a version of an iphone that even it won't be able to break into. with just one day to go before it has to respond to a judge's order, apple is reportedly taking new steps to secure its products. the "washington post" says the

company's engineers are working on enhancements that would make the phones unhackable without the owners help. it would only work on new iphones and would require a pass word before anyone could get around security. >> the safety of our kids and families is very important. the protection of people's data is incredibly important. >> reporter: this is happening as apple fights a court order to help the government unlock the phone belonging to one of the san bernardino attackers. apple's ceo explained his reasoning. >> the only way we know would be to write a piece of software that we view as sort of the software equivalent of cancer. we think it's bad news to write. we have never written it. and that is what is at stake here. >> reporter: while the government insists this would not apply to any other phones, apple says that is not the case. the issue has taken center stage

with supporters on either side of the debate. >> judges all over the country have said that those parties must assist if it is reasonably within their power to do so. >> reporter: apple has until friday to file a response to the judge's order. it says it won't go as far as cracking the phone. ines ferre, al jazeera. the democratic primary in south carolina on saturday, just two days away. we want to take you live to south carolina. hillary clinton about to begin a townhall meeting. she spent part of wednesday in the palmetto state talking about protecting the rights of voters there. and bernie sanders is in ohio just outside of cleveland. last night he was stumping for votes in oklahoma, but the primary begins in south carolina, prompting some to say

that he has abandoned the state. robert ray has more. >> reporter: the reality is that hillary clinton in 2008 got 55% of the vote here, so i'm not sure that he is abandoning, but rather taking his fight to other states. let's listen to what he had to say about that. >> we have waged a very, very vigorous campaign. we have picked up a lot of support, and we have closed the gap very, very significantly. but this from day one was going to be a very difficult state. we're not writing off south carolina. >> reporter: bernie has $90 million in his treasure chest still to keep this fight going. he is the only contender against hillary clinton. and hillary clinton is today in south carolina stumping. she seems to be playing a pretty tight ground game wherever she goes. she is having close knit townhalls, the south is very popular place for politicians,

especially on the democratic side to try to get that vote. and that is robert ray for us in south carolina. on the republican side there is a prominent congressman asking ted cruz and marco rubio to join forces. he thinks that one candidate should step out of the race, the other would then become his running mate. he says that is the only way to unite the republican party against the front runner, donald trump. trump is already taking some heat. >> you can't just say -- you can't just say the way some people in this race have head, you will probably know who i'm talking about in a moment -- [ laughter ] >> you can't just say well, when i get there, i'm going to hire the smartest people and they will tell me what to do. there is a reason why the smarter people are already there. they are already telling the president what we should be doing. he is ignoring it. you deserve to know exactly what

the next commander in chief is going to do. >> reporter: the rubio telling the rally in houston that trump doesn't have enough experience in foreign policy. earlier today, rubio picking up the endorsement of the tennessee governor. up next a possible political curve ball. mr. president obama nominate a republican to replace antonin scalia. and in the last three decades no candidate won south carolina without the african american vote.

florida health officials say they have identified three new cases of the zika virus. 32 people in florida now have zika, all of those cases have been travel related. and there is good news about the flu vaccine. the cdc saying this year's version is one of the most effective in years. so far people who have gotten the vaccine are 59% less likely to get sick. the flu kills thousands of people each and every year in the united states. healthcare has within bun key topic in the presidential campaign, and there is a new survey out that shows that most americans don't support bernie sanders's call for a single payer plan. that plan would create a single

government-run taxpayer run plan. on that note, we are now just two days away from the democratic primaries in south carolina. most african american say they are supporting hillary clinton. but bernie sanders is hoping that younger african americans will support his message. >> reporter: it's easy to miss this tiny part of south carolina, but it represents a voting block in a state that could play an out sized roll in presidential politics. because in the last 30 years no one has won this primary without black support. ♪ >> this is like the main road in our little community. >> reporter: mary hilton and four generations of her family grew up in little africa. it was founded in 1880 by freed slaves. >> this is my uncle's house. this is my cousin's house.

cousin's house. my aunt's house. my uncle's house. my mom's house. and my uncle's house. >> reporter: all on the same block? >> all on the same block. everyone little africa in the community are related. >> reporter: these communities are critical to democratic presidential candidates. and marry knows it. she raised three daughters on her own. >> from their 18th birthday, the only thing they got for their birthday was they registered to vote. i would take them down to register to vote. >> reporter: why? >> because i just knew that that was so important to have the right to vote, and it was their obligation to vote, and to make sure that things were done the right way. >> reporter: the right thing, both hillary clinton and bernie

sanders claim that's what they want to do for south carolina voters, especially women. as a group black women voter mored that any other slice of the population. >> i have to vote for hillary clinton. she has basically stuck with president barack obama. >> bernie is saying things, especially to my generation, like with the black lives matter movement. that's very important to me. >> reporter: what is not clear, is if the generational divide that has worked in sanders favor in states with mostly white voters will hold up here. >> reporter: can he really support a woman of color from the south? >> yes, he can, to me he is just

a better candidate than hilary is. i think bernie is speaking to me more. >> reporter: she also holds mrs. clinton partly responsible for bill clinton's harsh drug laws in the '90s. as for mary it's all about education and the economy. >> i remember one day i came from work, and i received a letter in the mail that my mortgage was going to go up $10 more a month. it was only 10 extra dollars, but i was just stressed out so much. it was just mind blowing that i had to come up with ten extra dollars for my mortgage. >> reporter: but she did it. >> as a child i was the face of poverty, and i'm a reflection and testimony that if you invest in that child, the results are tremendous.

>> reporter: she is mary's middle daughter, and is a doctor. ebony worries that some presidential candidates might gut programs like those that helped her go to school. >> if we really want to turn around and make america great again what we have to do is tackle those things. >> reporter: this coming season, do you see it as critically important to your future? >> absolutely. even more critical now, because you see all of the hate, and you see the things he had to endure for the last eight years, and so you want to make sure that we honor his legacy. >> reporter: so the women we met here, this election is part of the struggle that began when their ancestors bought this land, and how today they are still fighting to do so much more. duarte geraldino, little africa,

south carolina, al jazeera. president obama is looking at a republican to fill the seat on the supreme court. he says he has not been contacted by the white house. the white house says party is not a limiting choice. >> when the president gets to a stage where he is interviewing nominees, or potential nominees, in a conversation, i'm confident that he is not going to ask them which party primary they vote in. >> and the white house says the president is not rushing his decision which will be announced, they say sometime in the up coming weeks. still ahead, what could become a revolution in how we grow our food. >> reporter: i'm jake ward in california, where an ancient form of farming could be the farm of the future. i'll explain more in a moment. ♪ v

al jazeera america. it's an ancient farming method that may help fill the gap on how we manage to feed the world. jake ward takes a look. >> reporter: these flopping, slippery fish could be the key to growing food in the future. ken armstrong and his partner jessica patten have become two of the world experts in a very

different kind of farming. >> i killed my first fish tank. i killed thousands of fish. [ laughter ] >> reporter: do they bite? ah. >> no, but they do jump. >> reporter: it's called aqua uponics, a system in which fish provide nutrition for plants growing almost entirely in water. just plants and moisture, it's an ancient practice refined by farmers in the middle east and mexico. and now it's being upgraded. >> essentially we're bacteria farmers. plants know how to grow, the fish know what they are doing, so it is providing the right environment. >> reporter: it's a closed loop system. it saves water and onning wa uponic farmers say compared to con -- conventional farming it

is much more effective. >> that one block radius of san francisco could probably feed the entire city of san francisco. >> reporter: this operation gets an incredible amount of food out of a very compressed space, but it is still only about the equivalent of a five-acre farm. farms have to be sometimes thousands of acres, so the question is how big can aqua uponics get? there is a suggestion that food output will have to double by 2050 in order to feed the growing population. so perhaps aquaponics can help. but no farmer has attempted a large scale farm like this.

and aquaponics requires ongoing electronics, for the pumps. at the moment ken and jessica sell their salad greens and fish to high-end restaurants up and down the california coast. they say they break even doing it, but it's not clear whether it can feed the rest of the world. jake ward al jazeera. and finally ray charles getting a big tribute last night at the white house. ♪ i got a woman >> president obama hosting a concert featuring his music. earlier in the day, michelle obama hosting a ray charles workshop for students.

thank for watching, i'm del walters in new york. the news continues live from london next. ♪ hundreds of my grants and refugees set to be removed from the jungle camp in calais, after a judge upholds a conviction order. ♪ hello there, i'm barbara area, you are watching al jazeera live from london. also coming up on the program, russian jets pound the northwest of syria. ban ki-moon visits south sudan, a week after the killing of 19 people who thought the u.n. would keep them safe. and we talk