let's bring in our own senior washington correspondent, mike viqueira. , this is certainly stunning news. what do you think we are going to hear from the obama administration? >> well, false you will hear a note of grace. it has been confirmed by the u.s. marshal service which, of course, keeps watch over the supreme court. and when we hear president obama react to this, i think he will strike a high note, notwithstanding political differences that each individual has had with the other in terms of where they stand on the court. much has been made about president obama's background, a constitutional lawyer. will poe will president obama nominate someone given the fact that this election year, he is unlikely to get a lot of traction in the senate controlled by republicans but whatever no, ma'am next day knee he puts forward, i think all of that is beside the point. >> i think the president will not nominate someone. i don't think that individual would be confirmed this year, but one of the reasons he would nominate someone is for the same reason on tuesday

mike viqueira is live in have a hanna for us. mike, are you there? we're trying to get mike viqueira. we're having a few technical difficulties. we'll come back to him shortly. in the meantime, a new cbs news poll shows that majority of americans six in ten approve of restoring relations. 52% of americans approve of president obama's handling of relations between the two countries. 55% favor ending the trade embargo against cuba. 51% said they have a favorable impression of cuba but only 43% of americans are interested in visiting cuba. director of a deputy director of human affairs for the department of state from 1989 to 1993, and do authored the book learning to salsa, new steps in cuba and american relations. first of all, put this in perspective today what is happening. >> wow, you know, it's just been an amazing day. but when you take the whole perspective, you look at castro who is coming in with his revolutionary army into havana at the end of 1959. then our embargo being placed against cuba in 1961 then we have the mist crisis that brought u

mike viqueira. more thoughts on the fact that raul castro is insisting on this being an equal relationship and having said such, if president barack obama criticizes cuba, raul castro felt justified in criticizing the u.s. as well - and he did. >> well, you know, and risen, the united states over the courts of the last 54 years, frankly speaking, has given the u.s. government plenty of ambition to use against them, from the bay of pigs and the embargo, a major sore point not only with the castro regime but the cuban people. the translation may have been off, but raul castro said he would resist two faced approach to human rights, which is a relative strong statement of condemnation directed at the united states, insisting that changing within cuba is a sovereign matter and not subject to meddling to outside powers, and accepting and respecting our differences and not placing them at the center of the relationship with something that castro urged. it is a question. embargo which president obama decla

i expect there to be a vote. >> mike viqueira joins us now. mike, that doesn't sound like the president is ruling it out or pulling it off the table should the republicans decide to play hard ball here. >> you know what, i had the exact same thought, david. he did not rule it out. he said i expect a vote full stop, which is not saying i would not put forward a recess appointment. there are all kinds of wrinkles in this thing. i read today where one school of thought says january 3 of 2017 is when the new congress is sworn in. that's part of law. a new president isn't sworn in until january 20, in the interim, if the democrats were to win the senate, then he could get his nominee through. in the meantime have a place holder or recess appointment. i think if the republicans will get rid of that, they will find a way parliamentary to avoid going into recess, the sinesdie recess add journal. that's happened a couple of times in recent history where a senator will go in and gavel in and gavel out to avoid going into recent to keep the president from

michael shure, aljazeera, miami, florida. >> i'm mike viqueira in miami. hillary clinton is back where she started at the beginning of the campaign. the odds on favorite to take the fight to republicans in the fall. >> we are moving closer to securing the democratic party nomination, and winning this election in november! >> reporter: clinton routed bernie sanders in north carolina and florida, and it was a draw in missouri and illinois. but it was double-digits in ohio that debunks the theory that clinton is vulnerable in the industrial heartland. but sanders is succeeding nothing. his campaign has plenty of money to carry on, and addressing supporters in arizona tuesday night, he launched into his now familiar attack. >> she has received money from the drug companies and the fossil fuel industry. she has given speeches on wall street for $225,000 a pop. >> even the clinton team succeedconcedes upcoming primarn arizona and in hawaii, caulk uses in a format where sanders does well. but after her victories on tuesday, the delegate map put sanders in a big h

i want to go back to mike viqueira.he's at bernie sanders headquarters in new hampshire. >> i'm here at the bernie sanders crowd in new hampshire, i step away for a second. this is about the most jubilant project we can imagine. we were told that bernie sanders would be out here at the top of the hour at 9 o'clock. his crowd is filing in, coming through the secret service protectioning an indication that bernie sanders is somebody in this race. he's a serious challenger. he warrants secret service protection. that happened after the iowa caucuses. what happened next, we talked about nevada, and south carolina. i want to get off script a little bit. i have been in new hampshire the last knew days, and there was a democratic group allied with the hillary clinton campaign. i went to a marco rubio event the other day. they weren't going after anyone but marco rubio. it's american bridge, funded by george soros, david brock plays a role in that. he's a long-time clinton operative behind media matters. they are following marc

mike viqueira thank you so much.'s go to nicole mitchell now. >> this is an multifaceted storm, we have dealt with rain, ice, snow. ice especially through the carolinas, today, we have already seen there. light snow picking up in d.c., the heavy stuff starts tonight, into the day tomorrow, which is where we are now on this outline, and that includes new york, getting intense even by tomorrow morning, and then the winds pick up as well. continuing this in motion, it clears out pretty quickly by the day on sunday, but in the next two days, a lot to get through. so i mentioned on the southern end, still the dynamics that we can see the strong storms. wind primarily, that threat on this side of it, and then you get on the northern and cold airsi airside. we have had ice already, some of that could go over a half inch, and that's enough to start bringing down branches and power lines. and then where we see the red, anywhere from about d.c. up to long island, blizzard warning, that means combinations of enough snow and hig

mike viqueira joins us live from washington. mike, what is it like in d.c. right now?reporter: well, richelle people like to make fun of washingtonans who freak out at the first snow flake they see. this, however, is no laughing matter. we're talking about blizzard conditions. sustained winds of more than 35 miles an hour. a whiteout in effect. a heavy, wet snow is predicted, bringing down trees and power lines or even collapsing roofs around the region. there is a blizzard warning in effect. a meaning that the winds will be sustained at a very high speed all throughout washington, here in washington, d.c. and into northern virginia. so this is no laughing matter, there is public safety at stake. the mayor here in washington, d.c. had a press conference earlier today, many political leaders from around the region, eager to hold those press conferences with emergency officials to assure the public, not only that they are on top of this, but honestly a lot of political careers can be made or broken on the performance of emergency services. keeping the streets passable an

mike viqueira joins us live from manchester new hampshire, and mike how unpredictable is the primarytime around? >> reporter: well, it's very unpredictable, you look at the polling leading up to the real vote, donald trump lapping the field twice as clear as his nearest competitor, the nearest competitor being marco rubio. bern has lead for weeks over hillary clinton. a lot of people looking at that race, thinking it is going to tighten up somewhat. but there is a large number of undecided voters, and after frantic campaigning, the candidates making their final ditches del. >> several candidates say they need a strong showing today just to stay in the race. who are they? >> reporter: well, there are a lot of questions that will be answered by today's voting no question about it. donald trump as i said leading in the polls. the question is his support sort of a mile wide and inch deep, after all he was leading in iowa in the precaucus polling, and he ended up losing to ted cruz so it will be a barometer of how deep donald trump's support it, whether his operation can get out the vote.

we are joined by al jazeera's mike viqueira. and despite the smiles, the cuban president was quick to criticise the u.s. during today's events. >> well, that's right. it's sort of an awkward moment. unusual, unexpected. it came on an historic day. there's a lot of pomp and ceremony around the visit. it's an official state visit. president obama returned to his quarters from the state dinner with raul castro at the palace derevolution here in havana. raul castro today said there are profound differences between the united states and cuba, one that is will never go away. it was never more apparent than when castro lashed out at critics over his country's record on human rights. >> reporter: this was the moment raul castro and president barack obama shaking hands for the first time on cuban soil. they talked for two hours behind closed doors. when they emerged it was clear that the acrimony, 54 jeers, couldn't be forgotten even with the ceremony and good really. >> asked why an american reporter had political prisoners, castro bris

. >>> our senior washington correspond mike viqueira joins us now. >> you don't have to go back very far in history to see contentious, angry debates over supreme court nominations. no one needs to be reminded of the drama with justice tomas. there are a number of hot button issues, visceral issues to the bases of both political parties, particularly conservatives. there are cases involving abortion, affirmative actions, the president's actions on immigration, the executive actions that have been stopped in the court so far, and so conservatives have a lot at stake here as do democrats. president obama no way no how he was going to pass up this opportunity, first of all as he put it from california on saturday night, it's his constitutional responsibility. second of all, it would be political malpractice if he were to give in to republicans and not nominate, because this will fire up the democratic base, as well. that is his choice as he moves forward. the white house said the nomination will happen in due time, expected to take about a month. they're going to look at the benefits of

mike viqueira is live at the white house, and mike, what exactly do you expect this announcement to entailand how much can the president accomplish? >> reporter: well, that's a great question, how much can the president accomplish, because a lot of people look at this, and say it's a crackdown on the private sales of guns. something advocates for gun control have been calling on for a long time. what the president is doing ultimately here is cracking down on those private sales. a great deal of concern now that many gun sales are being transacted at flee markets, gun shows, you probably heard of the gun show loophole and especially and increasingly over the internet. those people who guy guns in that manner through these private sales do not have to undergo a background check. so what the administration is doing, how they are getting at that problem, is requiring more gun dealers, to license themselves as gun dealers. therefore anybody that they sell a gun to is going to have to undergo this background check. it's unclear whether this is going to save lives, or would have saved many lives

mike viqueira reports from washington >>> justice antonin scalya's remains are in the washington area arriving in a snow tomorrow in the night. >> i don't believe the president should appoint someone. >> almost from the moment of his passing the fight has been escalating, becoming a struggle that that could leave the supreme court with eight justices. >> republicans want to turn the november election to a nominee. insisting that any nominee by president obama should be blocked. >> we are one justice away from losing our federal rights in this country. we are one justice away from a radical 5 justice liberal majority >>> mr obama has ignored that call and says he'll go his constitutional duty to fill the vacancy. who would he nominate. first a jurist on the bench. a person sitting on the court of appeals, considered a stepping stone to the supreme court. he was confirmed for the seat by the senate three years ago. meric garland is the chief judge of the d.c. court. his name came up on previous lists, and paul watford confirmed to the bench on the ninth circuit of 2012. all three were m

goods and services flowed between the united states of canada >>> mike viqueira at the white house. as president obama begins to interview supreme court nominees senate republicans are standing by a promise to not consider any candidate. as libby casey reports, top-ranking republicans fought it up. antonio, it's impossible to strait out the politics. republicans repeated their stance. they won't vote against it, they won't let a nominee come up for a hearing. entrenched positions. republicans say no supreme court nominee until there's a president. we are not going to draw up any nominee. i'm not going to let it happen. to the good people of iowa. on the other hand democrats say it only fair to consider president obama's choice. >> i am appealing to the better agents of their nation. when there is a nominee, do as they have done in the past. give the nominee careful. meet with the nominee, ask the nominee questions. >> reporter: thursday's business meeting of the senate meeting turned into a forum to go on the record. no changes between republicans and democrats. the committee has th

rolling the diagnosis, let's begin with washington's seniorer washington correspondent, mike viqueira. >> i don't believe that the president should appoint someone. >> almost from the moment of his passing, the fight has been a political stroke that could leave the supreme court with 8 justices for at least a year. republicans want to turn the november election into a referendum for who should sit on the court. and any nominee put forward by president obama should be blocked in the senate. ted cruz has blocked a filibuster. >> we're one away from a majority that would effectively write the second amendment out of the constitution. >> reporter: mr. obama has ignored that call and said that he will do his constitutional duty to fill the vacancy. who will he nominate? speculation around two classes of candidates. first, a jurist already on the bench. a stepping stone to the supreme court. he was analysisly confirmed by the senate three years ago. merritt garland is the chief judge of the dc court. widely respected, his name has come up on previous lists, and paul wall ford, elected to th

mike viqueira an emotional side of the president that we have not seen because he did have, let's be realistic, no drama, obama, but today the tears flowed and they flowed freely. >> i think that's remarkable. i think that will be an indelible moment that people will talk about for sometime. i can't remember immediately an incident where the president did choke up like that. the tears literally rolling down his cheeks talking about sandy hook, talking about what happened in new town. inside that room, you know, you could see that -- he was surrounded by the families of many of the victims, many shooting victims themselves, most prominently, of course, gabby giffords, many people holding up photographs of their loved ones who were killed by gun violence, and the president certainly feeling the emotion in the room, culminating in that moment that he literally sobbed, while talking about what happened in new town. there is a tell prompter in the room, i don't think the president adhered to it very closely. talking about -- contrasting the argument that everyone has a right to own a gun

i think his tears were sincere. >> mike viqueira, al jazeera, washington. >>> a new feud brewing thisrning between republican presidential candidates donald trump and ted cruz. trump said the fact that the texas senator was born in canada may be a problem. >> people are worried if he weren't born in this country which he wasn't, he was born in canada and he had a canadian passport along with a u.s. passport until just recently within the past couple of years. i don't know what it all means. i know other people are talking about it. >> trump was revisiting the same claims he and members of the birther movement leveled at president obama. he he says the democratic party could sue cruz if he becomes president and that's not something republicans want. ted cruz responded to trump's comments last night. >> i tweeted out a response to donald trump's raising questions about my natural born citizenship. it was a link to fonzie jumping the shark. >> he is referring to this tweet linking to a video from the 1970's sitcom happy days. cruz was born in calgary to a mother who is a u.s. citizen. he

. >>> al jazeera's mike viqueira joins us now live from washington. good morning.hat impact did nancy reagan have on our understanding of the role of first lady? >> well, good morning to you, stephanie. in many ways it was a contribution because there were aspects of her term here in washington that were very traditional and others where she helped redefine the role. she was a traditional supportive spouse working behind the scenes in terms of her personal style, in terms of her tastes in decorating or the fact that she wanted to undertake repurchasing of china for state dinners and wore designers gowns that were donated with moneys from elsewhere. she redefined the role in many ways because she was very assertive hind the scenes. she is known for trying to dissuade her husband from running for reelection after that assassination attempt where he was hit by a bullet and sent to the hospital. she was instrumental for the firing of one of her husband's chiefs of staff, donald regan who left the office during that time. it's a fine line for a lady to walk between bein

mike viqueira is in washington for us right now. the president is throwing down the gauntlet. >> well, that is exactly the case. del, remember it was this time a year ago when president obama said he was going to use his pen and his phone to go around a congress that has time and time again provided obstacles on his cherished goals and programs. the most frustrating issue and the president has said this, is his inability to pass gun safety or gun control measures through the congress. he said that in the wake of the shooting in charleston, and after the shooting in oregon just a couple of months ago at the community college. he offered an angry and even visceral lacerating reaction. he vowed to use the executive order that he has promised before, now he's turning his attention to gun safety laws. we do anticipate that after the president meets the attorney general loretta lynch and the fbi director james comey in a couple of hours in the west wing, we'll hear from the president. the associated press reporting that the president is e

our senior "w" correspondent mike viqueira has the preview. >> president obama delivers his final state of the union address on tuesday and it's likely to be a combination victory lap of what he sees as successes in his seven years in office and insistence that this last year won't be a lame duck session, but there is much more work to do with or without congress. he'll enter the house chamber on a wave of good economic news. the unemployment rate is up and so are wages. he'll talk about the openin deal with cuba and iran. he wants to burnish his legacy and add to it high profile successes. the big trade deal with the pacific rim nations, known as the tpp. that may be tough to get with many democrats in opposition. and he'll push with something that has bipartisan support. criminal justice retournament reducing mandatory minimum prison senses and reducing the prison population. and there is one promise that has not been filled, closing the military prison in guantanamo bay. president bush said tha --president obama said he wants to work with congress to do that, and like many presidents

al jazeera's mike viqueira is in new hampshire for the final day of campaigning. >> reporter: the voting starts in a matter of hours. many candidates, republicans and democrats had a last push, criss-crossing the state of new lamp shire in a hunt for voters. do you think you have lost momentum since saturday? marco rubio like many republican rivals needles new hampshire, and he seems to be on rise for a third place finish in iowa. then came saturday ninight. a blistering attack. and under fire he fell back on a similar tone. >> president obama doesn't know what he does. >> there it is. >> reporter: an opposition narrative was born. the junior senator from - and not handling the pressure. >> i haven't decided. >> reporter: and the man that led the attack, finding himself polling badly in polls. on monday they were on bended nee. >> i have dirt on my pants and everything now. oh, good. >> making it great again. >> the republican leading in the polls, donald trump, was challenged at a town hall, a man asking trump if he could look a syrian child in the face and tell him he couldn't go to sc

. >> mike viqueira is at the white house. ke, tell us more about what topped the agenda today. >> reporter: perhaps fitting that on march 10th, where it's 82 degrees in washington, d.c. that global warming and climate change would be the focus, and that center was a centerpiece of what these two governments would like us to talk about. both countries, the united states and canada, very acutely aware of the effects that climate change is having, particularly in the arctic. there is also a plan on the table to ease cross-border commerce. ease bottlenecks between the united states and canada, $2 billion a day plus every single days crossing the border, and they want to streamline that process. but there's no question that american politics is casting a shadow over this state visit, and it is the first state visit full of all of the pomp and ceremony meant to illustrate the closeness of these two countries. the first visit in 19 years. earlier today there was an arrival ceremony on the south lawn. the prime minister showing up whi

our senior correspondent mike viqueira has a preview. >> president obama delivers his final state of the union address on tuesday and it's likely to be a combination victory lap as what he seize as success in his seven years in office and insistence that this last year won't be a lame duck session but that there is much work to do with or without congress. he'll enter the house chamber on a wave of good economic news. the employment rate is up, and so are wages. we can expect the president to tout the opening to cuba and iran and what he sees as the success of the affordable care act. all in all the president wants to talk about his legacy and add to that. congressional acceptance with pacific trade teal with the pacific rim nations known as the tpp. and he'll push for something that has bipartisan support, criminal justice reform, reducing mandatory minimum similars and reducing the prison population. there is one promise that has not been filled, closing the military prison in guantanamo bay. president obama wants to work with congress to do that, but that's not likely to happen, a

al jazeera's mike viqueira has more on the goals of the trip. >> it's been 19 years, but today, president obama rolls out the red carpet for a canadian prime minister, welcoming justin trudeau to the white house for the pomp and ceremony of an official state visit. the two leaders met once before at a summit in the philippines last fall, shortly after trudeau took office. obama aids see a developing special relationship as trudeau tries to raise canada's profile on the international stage. >> whether it's the united nations, whether it's refugees, climate change, there's a zeitgeist of engagement he brings, and so in a certain sense, they are selling canada to the world. >> a major proposal could ease backuppion in the u.s. canada border, clearing customs at ports, highway checkpoints, bus and train stations, much like the preclearance system now in place at many airports. the goal is to ease choke points and speed travel. with $2 billion in goods and services crossing the border day, canada and the u.s. are each other's largest trading partner. one area there's been disagreement, the fig

i want to go to mike viqueira. we all woke up thinking the biggest story in the world would be president obama speaking in havana, but we all woke up to news that there has been yet another major terror attack on a major european city. what more to we know about the white house's response to what has happened in brussels? >> reporter: obviously this happens in -- and it was an undeniably historic speech we just heard, and yet the news started breaking at that time very early this morning. we were told by white house staff that the president had been briefed on the situation. we were assured that white house officials were in contact with their belgian counterparts. the department of homeland security advised everyone that they were on top of it. again, repeating their -- repeating their often said phrase. if you see something, say something, things of that nature. the white house obviously on full alert here. this is bringing a political cue and cry from the republican right back home. we have seen a number of prov

senior white house correspondent mike viqueira joins us live from washington, d.c. mike, this quickly became a hot topic for the presidential candidates. >> reporter: you are absolutely right, lori jane, it's only about about 24 hours since this news brock. this shocking news that took america by surprise, certainly took the white house and congress by surprise the death of justin antonin scalia after being on the bench since nineteens 86, appointed by ronald reagan it's just a mesh of the hot bunt cultural issues among the cultural war these battles that have been fought for decades now that are handled by the supreme court that has already become such a volatile issue. just consider the docket for the rebalance of this supreme court term. cases involving affirmative action. involving abortion. involving president obama's executive actions on immigration. and whether or not they are going to be legal. these are vital issues not only to americans in general, but in an election year to the base of both parties, both conservatives, and liberals we are talking about vo

. >> mike viqueira for us. mike, thank you.nd at the bottom of the hour, we will look at the cases before the supreme court right now, how his death will effect the rulings. >>> to south carolina now where republican candidate jeb bush is hoping a little help from his brother can turn things around in his struggle campaign. george w. bush is taking his first appearance on the cam contain trail. more on that from randall pinkston who joins us live now from north charleston. randall. >> reporter: tony, the rally is just breaking up here, the rally for jeb event that was a stage to try to raise some support for jeb bush. his campaign is not at all gone the way he had hoped, the way many has thought it would go. he performed poorly in iowa and new hampshire. george w. bush's approval rate here is 60%. compared to jeb who is at about 10%. here is former president george w. bush. >> presidency is a serious job that requires sound judgment, and good ideas. and there's no doubt in my mind that jeb bush has the experience and the charac

let's go to senior washington correspondent mike viqueira, who is live in south carolina tonight. he is looking ahead to next saturday when the state holds a democratic primary. how much of an impact will hillary clinton's victory in nevada have on the next contest? >> well conventional wisdom pretty much went out of window. it appears to be reverting to the mean. going back to normal and a measure of conventional wisdom. the caucuses showed hillary clinton shows strength among black voters, and she is counting on the voters and throughout super-tuesday, a few days after that. while nevada's vote was small compared to what it is in here. more than 50" of the electorate. that is part of the fire wham, stopping the bernie sanders insurgency. >> it's a race that bernie sanders hoped could win. hillary clinton consistent come to south carolina. she went to texas. one of the super-tuesday states, a popular state, holds a lot of delegates, but she struck a theme of race relations in houston, later today. >> it's a blast from the jim crow past. i thought we won that battle in the 196 #s.

let's go to mike viqueira, senior washington correspondent. he is live in south carolina, and looking ahead to the democratic primary, the one sit for saturday. a lot of people wondering if band has a chance -- bernie sanders has a chance of stealing this from hillary clinton. >> bernie sanders says he will not give up and will not concede. if you look, there was low turn out caucuses for democrats. bernie sanders blamed some of that on his loss to hillary clinton. it was a convincing win for hillary clinton, if you look at some numbers. there was another troubling defence. 13% of the democratic electorate is african american. they went to hillary clinton by a substantial margin, you move to south carolina on saturday, and three days after the super-tuesday, and many of the dates involved in that, where the african american delegate represents half. that is a steep hill for bernie sanders to climb. >> hillary clinton did not come to josh starling, after the victory in nevada. she went to texas. another super-tuesday state. and she talked about

the meetings will go forward. >>> mike viqueira in washington. number of hate groups in the u.s. on the rise after several years of declining, according to reports that came out. al jazeera's roxana saberi has that story. >> in charleston south sudan, a white sooup rex sift is accused white supremacists are accused of killing nine at a bible study. >> we have no idea his motivation behind the shooting chattinoogoa four officers were kill. and in the springs three were killed. the poverty law center says the examples are of political violence sees a rise in hate groups. it coincides with the number of hate groups across the u.s. it jumped from 800 to 900 last year. an increase of 14%. the group include the klu klux klan erupted after a church shooting in south carolina. numbers more than doubled to 190 groups. the report also says the number of black separatist hate groups are growing, energized by shootings of black men. the groups are motivated by racially based hatred and seek a separate nation. they reported a rise in anti-muslim behaviour. li

mike viqueira joins us from havana. good evening to you. how has the president spent his first hours on the island? >> well good evening to you. the president going to the u.s. embassy saying it's an historic opportunity. the embassy opened in washington and havana respectively, today, truly an historic visit as you point out, the first since the waning days of calvin koolidge administration. the president, almost the first thing he did, when he got off the plane. the president is touring old havana with his family, he has malia and sasha with him, and his mother-in-law, marion robinson. almost a celebratory air. the president has a lot of event, this is officially is state visit. he'll meet with a raul castro, the president and will do a number of things to highlight what the white house hopes is an effort to cement the initiative, taking to normalize relationships with cuba, cognisant that it is an election year, and doesn't want his predecessor to reverse what is done. the appearance is substantive and symbolic. >> anti-government protes

mike viqueira reports from washington. >> president obama was asked about the controversy of the sunday death of justice angers ntonin scalia. he prayed justice scalia, and then quickly made it clear that he has the right to nominate someone to succeed him and will exercise that right. he was some how suggesting that the president in a second term in office should in the have a right and defer to the next president before appointing someone. as for who the president is thinking of or what type of candidate he's thinking of nominating to be the next associate justice, the president would not tip his hand. >> there is not going to be a particular position on a particular issue that determines whether or not i nominate them, but i will present someone who indisputably is qualified for the seat any fair minded person or anyone who disagreed with my politics would say would serve honorbly on the court. >> on the democratic side the president would not put his thumb on the scale. he was asked to comment on a controversial between hillary clinton and bernie sanders over who is more loyal or di

mike viqueira is in washington. it's what the president did not do, delivering a lists of the legislative priorities, what is the reaction from both sides of the aisle? >> i think you are right in a sense, it's a speech that only a president entering his end term in office could have given. he scolded republicans, almost bordering on ridicule and urged republicans to do, change the tone in washington. >> you, the president of the united states. president obama didn't just tout his record, he dared republicans to dispute it - on the economy. >> anyone claiming that america's economy is in decline is pedalling fiction. >>> on who is to blame for the recession. >> food stamp recipients did not cause the financial crisis. recklessness on wall street did. >> reporter: it was the same on climate change and the fight against i.s.i.l. president obama using the last state of the union to deliver an in your face address directed at republicans, who spent much of the evening sitting on their hands. his scorn extended to the ca

mike viqueira joins us from havana with more on the president's busy day on the island. mike?reporter: good evening,

. >> mike viqueira joining us live from manchester new jersey, where candidates will choose candidates. quite a spanking the governor of new jersey gave. did the debate change anything for the voters? >> you know, it remains to be seen, one thing you are certain of heading into the primary, the first in a nation primary is number one historically it's shown that new hampshire voters are fickle and will change their minds at the last minute. reports show that many voters have not made up their mind and could do so when entering the polling booth on tuesday. it illustrates the desperation that some of the candidates, it could be the last gasp. some that launched the full-frontal assault on marco rubio, whom he considers the biggest threat. many consider him to be the biggest threat to defeat donald trump. but they are unreliable heading into the primary, particularly in the granite state. to defeat chump and ted cruz is not expected to do well at all. at least compared to the victory in iowa. the charge from chris kristi to marco rubio, that he's robotic, he delivers canned answers, he r

richelle. >> mike viqueira in washington there. more on the panama papers, and the scandal has claimed it's first victim. the prime minister of iceland has resigned after his ownership of a multimillion-dollar offshore firm was leaked to the media. >> reporter: it is as far as you can imagine from iceland to the virgin islands, but his wealth caught up to him. an ice stream parlor, named after the shell company that he and his wife established. >> it's very sour, and -- >> leaves a sour taste in the mouth. >> yeah, a bitter taste. >> that's how you feel about it. >> i'm sad and ashamed to be an icelander. >> they confronted him about the tax dodge, and he spent monday saying that he wouldn't resign and tuesday saying that he would if the coalition partners wouldn't stand by him. it's a standoff, but many think that he won't last for the no confidence vote on thursday. >> there are no meetings with charlment or chamber meetings or anything, because people kneel that the parliament continue function in this state of kries, so we have

mike viqueira reports from washington. >> reporter: the sudden death of scalia has trigger admit call free for all in washington. it is going to mean gridlock and it could translate to dead lock at the supreme court for more than a year. just advertise antonin scalia's remains are now in the washington area. >> i do not believe the president should appoint someone -- >> reporter: almost from the moment of his passing the fight over his replace has been escalating. it could leave the supreme court with just eight justices for at least the next year. republicans want to return it into a kind of referendum on who should sit on the court, and insists any nominee put forward by president obama should be blocked. ted cruz has vowed to filibuster. >> we are one justice away from losing our fundamental rights in this country. we're one justice away from a liberal majority that would effectively write the second amendment out of the constitution. >> reporter: mr. obama has ignored that call and says he will do his constitutional due to fill the vacancy. first, a juris already on the bench. he

mike viqueira is on capitol hill for us, and mike, what is the white house saying about what has happened here? >> reporter: tony, i think that you hit the nail on the head. it is going to be followedder for the president's enemies. for those against the iran nuclear deal to begin with, the white house has insisted all along that there's a coupling between iran's behavior and a nuclear deal, and that's going to be lost on the president's opponent. but i happened to be at the white house, in a background briefing on another subject with ben rose, and he was asked about the incident as it was unfolding. he said, "we're aware of it, and hope to resolve the issue." and since then, we have seen various officials in telephone appearances that this will not come up in the speech. and these sailors are going to be released promptly. so the white house is playing this down, but it's something that's not only a concern for the sailors, but for a politicaller matter here in washington tonight. >> how odd, mike. we understand that the president wants to sound a tone of optimism in his speech tonight,

al jazeera's senior washington correspondent, mike viqueira is live in washington. tell us more about the president's message today. >>> good evening, or good afternoon. it is really indicative of a theme president obama has been hitting over the past several months. he has been trying to reach across divisions in american society. this is an increasing theme that he has been striking whether those divisions be religious or political, and secondly, it's quite evident that the president is disturbed and upset by much of what he regards as the angry rhetoric coming from the campaign trail, particularly from the republican side, obviously. if you look at some of the speeches he has given over the course of the last weeks and months, first in may his first-ever trip to a synagogue. he gave an address at washington, d.c. at a place of worship. then last week at the holocaust remembrance ceremony. and his first-ever trip to a mosque on u.s. soil where he talked about the theme of unity in american society how the rich tapestry is threatened by some of the anti-muslim rhet

i want to go back out one last time to mike viqueira before we wrap up this live special coverage. mike, talk about how the president will measure the success of this trip by which metrics will the white house be able to spin this as positive to the american people and to the cuban people? >> well, again i think it remains to be seen. there have been some flies in the ointment already. we've seen protesters manhandle with images shown around the world just hours before the air force one touched down. i can tell you that the white house staff was not happy about that at all. they were concerned and went out of their way to say in the speech give to the cuban people will be aired nationally to the cuban people. that was part of the agreement. that happens tomorrow. he'll go to the baseball game with the tampa bay rays. >> right now president obama meeting with cuban president raul castro. both presidents are said to meet with the press. that will vice president at 1:15. thanks for watching. >> hello again. the news hour from al jazeera. our top stories u.s. president barack obama has

. >> ok, mike viqueiraing baltimore, thanks, mike, al jazeera will bring you president obama's remarks at that mosque live around 1:00 p.m. eastern. >> one mosque in wyoming i guess causing controversy with neighbors. a handful of muslims opened the center last year and face intimidation and lack of acceptance. we have the story. >> we had a new mosque open in town, there had never been one in the history of gillette and people contact me through the militia group i belong to. >> when the all white predominantly christian hometown in wyoming had its first mosque open in late 2015, he started a facebook page called stop islam in gillette. it soon attracted 400 members who shared his views that the mosque would foster islamic radicalism and incite terrorism. >> the issue with the mosque is we didn't know who was behind it, who was in it, where it came from. >> the family founded the mosque in a converted house. they make up almost all the muslims in gillette, 30 in all in a town of 31,000. >> we wanted a place to gather and pray and for kids to get taught islamic scripture. >> the famili

i'll go out to mike viqueira. the imam, as you can see, as you can hear, is very optimistic about what the president had to say. let's play one more clip of the president, and then we'll come back to you, mike. >> the best way for us to fight terrorism is to deny these organizations legitimacy, and to show that here in the united states of america we do not suppress islam. we celebrate and lift up the success of news limb americans. that's how we show the lie that they're trying to propagate. we shouldn't play in to terrorist propaganda. >> now mike, the reality of politics is that there are obviously members of the other party who will agree with president obama's take on how to address isil and some of the comments that he made. so going forward how do you think this is going to be received? >> well, you know, i agree with the imam. i said it myself when we started talking about this, it was an optimistic message, no doubt about it. i think its constructive to compare how president obama has spoken about these i

mike viqueira is next with "inside story". have a good night. night. ♪ ♪ >> we're rapidly approaching five years of civil war in syria. hundreds of thousands of lives have been lost many of them innocent women and children. while i.s.i.l. and other rebel groups undoubtedly committed war crimes, syria has blood on its hands as well. vladimir putin pulling some russian jets out of the region, are we turning a tide on the war torn country?

going to turn around here, more results flashing on the screen here in west palm beach. >> okay, mike viqueira, and mike is in that noise dome there in west palm beach, florida with the clinton campaign. and appreciate that. bernie sanders is already looking ahead to next week, and the arizona primary, melissa chang is joining us from phoenix, and how is the campaign feeling about next week? >> well, i think that the campaign is feeling pretty good if you look at the crowd behind me here. the people have been gathering since 10 a.m. local time, since the event started in order to participate. i think that the sanders campaign, he was back here in july of 2016, where bernie sanders held a rally, and at that time, a lot of people didn't take him seriously. well, 11,000 people showed up at that rally back in the summertime last year, and it was really interesting, tony. as i was walking along the lines, i kept asking, did anybody go to the rally last summer? and i didn't come across one. and that means that so many of them are new supporters, and that's a good sign for him, tony. >> so melissa, g

mike viqueira is live outside of the mosque. mike, what is the significance of this visit?> reporter: well, this is president obama's first trip to a mosque on u.s. soil. this is something that muslim leaders had urged president obama to do, many meeting at the white house with president obama and this is the result of those talks. obviously as you put it, del, the spike in islamaphobia, the an advertise muslim rhetoric that has happened in the wake of the paris and san bernardino attacks has been a great deal of concern. and we have heard president obama talk about this several times in the last several weeks, lashing out at those particularly on the campaign trail. donald trump saying he wanted to ban all muslims from coming to the united states until we can figure out what is going on. jeb bush said only christians should be allowed in among the refugees that have flooded europe and many that will be coming to these shores. and many others like ted cruz have hit president obama for refusing to use the phrase radical islamic terrorism. the president has lashed out at thos

i don't know. [ chuckling ] mike viqueira live from washington. thank you.l, there is more fallout today from the panama papers. iceland's prime minister has announced his resignation a short time ago. thousands of protesters calling for the resignation after the papers reveal his wife's off-shore holdings. he moved millions of dollars to the british virgin island. the documents show how some of the world's wealthiest people hide their money to avoid paying taxes. marine la pen has been confirmed to having an offshore scheme. >> we're allies, not just in this country but every country in the world we welcome any publication or any investigation which protects global financial systems so it cannot be used for any illicit act. on the contrary these types of challenges strengthen us as a country and reaffirms our commitment to keep fighting for transparency. >> prosecute necessary panama have opened an investigation into the reports. al jazeera's adam raney has more on that in panama city. >> it's not clear where that investigation is going to lead. they're bei

mike viqueira is live for us in washington, d.c. ike, what is on the agenda for the president on this historic trip. >> reporter: as you reported some 88 years since calvin coolidge made the trip in the waning days of his administration. it almost has sort of a celebratory air of it. obviously many problems remain in cuba, still an embargo imposed by congress, would have to be lifted by congress from the united states on cuba. the president will arrive, he has got the entire first family intoe on sunday. he has first lady michelle obama, his daughters and his mother-in-law. on monday he gets down to business. let's go through some of the major events here on his three-day schedule. he'll meet with the president of cuba. white house officials insist there will be no meeting between president obama and fidel castro. on tuesday an address to the cuban people. he will talk about many of the major issues on the agenda, human rights as well as economic opportunities, a round table with dissidents. this is something a lot of people are look

mike viqueira is live at the nation's capitol. mike, the president looking back, looking forward, what is he headed now? >> reporter: they said it was going to be a non-traditional speech, and that was true. there are things that he wants to have happen over the course of the next year. one thing that is tradition, however, the president is leaving on a two-day trip to try to amplify some of the message he put forth last night. he is going to omaha, nebraska, there he will have what is described as a living room discussion, and later a speech at the university there, going to be focusing principally on education, we'll remain overnight outside of the white house going to baton rouge, louisiana, where tomorrow he'll be having a townhall meeting, and talk about some of those issues. del, white house officials had let it be known before meeting that the president was upset at the tone of politics, especially in the republican campaign trail, how they were talking down the economy and a number of other things that the president frankly