Moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. Lincoln financial committed to helping you take charge of your life and become youre own chief life officer. And the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Ifill the price of oil briefly dipped below 50 a barrel today, for the first time in five years. By the end of the day, it had returned to just above that symbolic threshold, yet still at a five year low. That plunge had a Ripple Effect on the markets, driving Energy Stocks down sharply. But the losses on wall street today webedroad, across all sectors. The Dow Jones Industrial average lost 331 points to close at 17501; the nasdaq fell 74 points to close at 4,652; the s p 500 dropped 37 points to close at 2,020. Woodruff lower oil prices3 also gave a boost to the nations automakers this holiday season. General motors and Fiat Chrysler posted double digit gains in december. Cheaper gas and promotional savings drove americans to dealerships in droves. Only ford finished flat for the month, although it was the top selling brand in the u. S. For 2014. Ifill the search for air asia flight 8501 expanded today. Ships and aircraft fanned out over a wider section of the java sea to make up for 8 days of strong currents that could have carried debris farther afield. 37 bodies have been recovered of the 162 passengers and crew who were on board. Meanwhile,0i ministry cracked down on air asia for flying the surabaya to singapore route on unauthorized days. translated if airasia did not do anything wrong, why would indonesia suspend their license . According to our identification data, it shows that they are clearly in the wrong, because they do not fly at the times that we have approved or permitted. Ifill control tower officials and other individuals who permitted the plane to fly will also be suspended. Woodruff boko haram islamic militants have attacked and seized the headquarters of a remote Multinational Military base in nigeria. An unknown number of soldiers and civilians were killed in the attack that happened this weekend in baga, near the border with chad. Survivors who fled the scene said the militants used assault rifles, explosives and rocket propelled grenades in the sustained attack. Many residents escaped by canoe. Ifill in the u. S. , a blast of arctic air pushed down from canada into the plains and upper midwest today. Some of the worst wind chills were recorded in minnesota and wisconsin, and the National Weather service issued advisories and warnings for much of the region. The coldas is moving east and south. In new england, temperatures dropped 35 degrees in the last 24 hours. But meteorologists say its not unusual, its just january. Woodruff the flu is running rampant in most of the country according to the centers for Disease Control and prevention. The c. D. C. Issued updated numbers today, showing flu is now widespread in 43 states and could peak later this month. The strain of the virus thats making most people sick wasnt included in this years vaccine, making flu shots less effective than normal. Ifill the u. S. Ski team is in mourning after two of its prospects were killed in an avalanche today in the austrian alps. 20yearold ronnie berlackand and 19yearold bryce astle were descending a slope with four other skiers when they left the prepared path and apparently triggered the deadly slide. None of the other skiers were hurt. The site of the accident had been under an avalanche alert because of recent weather. Woodruff a member of the grand jury in ferguson, missouri filed a lawsuit today iq r she can speak out about the case. The lawsuit is necessary because a lifetime gag order was placed on the jurors who decided not to indict a white Police Officer in the shooting death of an unarmed black 18yearold. The unnamed juror contends the prosecutor in the case was wrong to imply that all 12 jurors believed there was no evidence to support the charges. Ifill the tomb of a mystery queen has been unearthed in egypt. A team of czech archaeologists discovered the 4,500yearold tomb at the abu sir necropolis just south of cairo. Markings on the walls indicated it belonged to khentkaus the third, a previously unknown wife or mother of pharaoh raneferef, who ruled during egypts fifth dynasty. Thats during the same time the first pyramids were constructed. Ifill still to come on the newshour. The Boston Marathon bombing trail begins with jury selection. Lebanons unprecedented move to restrict syrians from crossing the border. Republicans return to washington with the majority and an agenda. The euro plunges to a nine year low against the u. S. Dollar. The suicide of a transgender teen sparks a National Conversation. And remembering Edward Brooke who overcame racial barriers in politics and law. Woodruff jury selection got underway in boston today in the trial of the man accused of bombing the 2013 Boston Marathon. The surviving suspect 21 year old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was on hand as lawyers from both sides began screening 1,200 potential candidates, but didnt speak. That number will eventually be whittled down to 12 jurors and six alternates. But that could take weeks due to extensive Media Coverage of the attack and sheer number of people affected. Its been almost two years since the bombings killed three people and wounded more than 260 others near the marathons finish line. Soon after, the f. B. I released this Surveillance Video showing dzhokhar and his older brother tamerlan at the scene. That triggered a manhunt and forced the city of boston and its surrounding areas into lockdown. The accused allegedly killed a Police Officer along the way. It wasnt until four days after the blasts that Law Enforcement closed in on the brothers in the suburb of watertown. Tamerlan ultimately died after an intense shootout with police. But dzhokhar fled and was later arrested, hiding out in this boat in a watertown backyard. Dzhokhar has already pleaded not guilty to all 30 charges, and could face the Death Penalty if convicted. Many in the community are eager for the trial to finally begin january 26th. Get this over with, get this in the past, and start anew. Its going to be painful, of course, to relive something so traumatic but i think who could handle it better than the citizens of boston . Woodruff some bombing survivors like Heather Abbott who lost her left leg below the knee plan to attend the proceedings, but are understandably anxious. I expect it to be emotional. Im sure that its not going to be an easy time. But for me its something that i want to at least experience attending just for some sort of peace of mind, to see the person who changed my life forever. Woodruff the judge said he expects the trial could last as long as four months. For more on todays proceedings and the mood in the city of boston, we are joined by Phillip Martin, Senior Investigative reporter for w. G. B. H fm, public radio who was in the courtroom today. Phillip martin, thank you for being with us. First of all, tell us about the scene where you were. Well, i was with other journalists today watching through a glass plate window. A glass paned window. A huge window. We were watching about 250 jurors starting at 9 00 this morning, then again 1 00 this afternoon. These are potential jurors, i should say. Theyre being selected from throughout massachusetts to sit potentially on the trial of dzhokharc tsarnaev at the u. S. Courthouse right behind me, in fact. Woodruff thats a lot of people to talk to. How is the judge and the lawyers, how are they going about winnowing that down . What kind of questions are being asked. One question that will winnow this down tremendously is whether or not the juror whether or not he or she would consider the Death Penalty if the defendant is found guilty. If you answer no to that question, you are immediately dismissed from the jury pool. You are excused from the jury pool because as you know, this is a Death Penalty trial. If you answer no to that question, the prosecutors will just go on. So the other questions asked if you know any of the potential witnesses. Theres a list of the witnesses the potential jurors see for their eyes only, we werent allowed to see the questionnaire, and if they know some of the witnesses on this list, its not clear how the judge will ag and what the prosecution and the defense will say under those circumstances, but its thought its preferable, of course they not know any of the witnesses. Woodruff i was also reading the judge is saying to the potential jurors not to read anything or do any researchc about this case, but i also want to ask you about Dzhokhar Tsarnaev himself. He is in the courtroom. What is he doing during all this . Well, you know, under any other circumstances, you would look at this young man as what he was at one point, a college student. Thats what he looked like. But in the background, of course, are the bombings, the twin bombings of april 2013. So you see a young man with a scruffy beard wearing a black sweater and khaki pants not a suit, not a tie. He looks like a college student. Throughout the proceedings as the potential jurors were being questioned, he was looking straight ahead. He seemed to look down only when the judge mentioned that the Death Penalty would be considered in this case. But for the most part, he seemed i wouldnt say confident and i wouldnt say aloof. He seemed as though he was simply accepting what was taking place and staring straight ahead. Woodruff Phillip Martin, finally, what are people in boston saying about this . Is there a sense of anxiety about the trial . We just heard a few moments ago one resident saying they just wanted to get this over with. Youre going to hear that from quite a few people but theres a sort of sense that this had the take place. This was inevitable. It had been put off for some time now, originally was supposed to take place in november. Talking with a manager of Boston Marathon sports,c whose windows were blown out during one of the bombs, he simply said he would like to focus on the survivors and the victims rather than the alleged suspect or the suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. He said his sympathy is for the victims of this case. He would like it to be over with but, at the same time, he is resigned this is going to happen. It took place in boston and this is where its going to end. Woodruff Phillip Martin with wgbh radio. We thank you. Thank you, judy. Ifill in the middle east, syrians attempting to flee fighting were turned away today by the lebanese government. The bordering nation, which has been straining under the weight of its refugee population, is now imposing new restrictions aimed at slowing the influx of asylum seekers. Humanitarian groups are concerned that the new policy may leave syrians trapped inside a war zone with no way out. All told, the conflict has produced more than three million refugees. According to the u. N. , more than a million registered refugees are in both lebanon and neighboring turkey. Jordan is host to more than 600,000. Iraq, nearly a quarter million. Joining me to help put all this in perspective is chief Foreign Affairs correspondent margaret warner. Margaret, how big . What is the scope of the problem were talking about in lebanon . Its absolutely huge. Lebanon is being swamped in proportion to its population. So right now more than a quarter of the People Living in syria living in lebanon are syrian refugees. In other words theres 1. 2 million probably another half million that dont register with the u. N. On many accounts lebanon has the highest number of total refugees because they have all the palestinians from 40 to 60 years ago in the world. So its been a huge strain on resources. There are some towns where im told there are more babies born to syrian mothers than lebanese mothers. There are some schools where there are more syrian children trying to get into the schools than lebanese children. Apparently the new restrictions were agreed upon in the cabinet by all these different sectarian groups. Theres the shiites, hezbollah blah, the sunnis, the christians, they often dont agree on much. On this they agree, the public opinion, the resentment is across all categories. Ifill why is lebanon taking such a hit . Partly, its accessible. People flew wherever they could get to a border and it was close. So in the case of lebanon to the south, this has been an area that was semicontrolled by the opposition. At least i was open. And an al quaidalike group, theyre in an uneasy collusion. So people fleeing fromda damascus have come from that area. People fled closest to where they could get to and not get killed in the process. There are millions of syrians inside syrian who cant get across a border anywhere. Ifill is there a distinction drawn between political and humanitarian refugees in lebanon . No. First of all, there had been a treaty of friendship and cooperation between the two so you didnt need a visa to come in. So many are people who came in and out. And we saw that when we were there 18 months ago. They might come in, buy food, go back out and back and forth. A lot of syrian officials and pro assad businessmen put their families in beirut. Syria and lebanon have always had a close relationship and didnt make a distinction. What the u. N. Is worried about, they dont even mention the word refugee. They say if youre coming in as a business person, tourist, student. So the u. N. Is asking for clarification. The rules say, if youre already in lebanon you wont be asked to leave. Ifill that was my next question. 3 Million People, 1 million unaccounted for or 1. 5 million. Assuming those folks are there. Theyre safe from repatriation . Yes. But what it does not say is what happens to the mother and Sick Children who arrive at the border. So far, no answer yet from the lebanese government. What it does say if you dont meet one of the categories, you have to get someone to vouch for you thats lebanese. One is a huge opportunity for corruption. Secondly, it is a way for the government to retain some control but send a message to syrians look dont head our way. Finally, what they mean it as a wakeup call to the International Community, which is if you want us to have an open border youve got to help us pay for it and the International Community has not. Ifill and if youre iraq and jordan, you would consider the same thing. You absolutely would. In the case of iraq the yazidis and others who go in through jair and out there, its pretty unsafe to get into iraq. Turkey is a huge country and a huge economy. Because lebanon didnt want to establish camps because they didnt want a palestinian situation because of the ethnic sectarian balance, they have made it harder because there is no place for the u. N. To add steer aid. Ifill theyre everywhere. They do it through food vouchers but there are no established camps where the u. N. Can run things. Its desperate. Ifill margaret, thank you. My pleasure. Woodruff tomorrow, the United States will convene its 114th congress, and with it will come republican control of both the house and senate for the first time in nearly a decade. To give you a sense of the new congress, here is the composition of the house as it stands today, with more republican seats in red and fewer democrats in blue. And here is the house as it will be, starting tomorrow. More red less blue. There will be one vacant seat that follows the resignation of new york gop congressman michael grimm. The senate faces a more dramatic shift. Democrats held a significant majority in this past congress. Starting tomorrow, that will flip. Republicans will hold 54 seats and the Democratic Caucus will have 46. What will this mean for the agenda . The main issues ahead include energy, health care, and some new fiscal deadlines approaching. To get a more precise idea of what this could mean, we are joined by david boaz of the Libertarian Cato Institute and Arkadi Gerney of the liberal leaning center for american progress. We welcome you both to the program again. Thank you. Woodruff thank you. So you both watched the congress very closely you look at the issues. David boaz, let me start with you. What are republicans looking for out of this congress . Well, i think immediately theyre likely to turn to the Keystone Pipeline issue. Woodruff this week. Thats right. And they will likely pass that in the house of representatives. Theyll probably pass it in the senate but not with a vetoproof majority. I dont know. Its still possible the president will let that. Go but then theyre going to turn, i think to obamacare and then budget issues will occupy much of the year. It was lets start with emergency and the Keystone Pipeline. Arkadi gerney, looks like the republicans will get it passed, democrats will get it passed, the democrats will veto it . Both democrats and republicans were talking about an all of the above strategy. Now its all Keystone Pipeline from the republicans. Woodruff and youre saying nothing else you see on energy coming. I think were seeing progress in the real world of energy with gas prices down, a lot of progress toward more fuel efficient cars and renewable energy, but it looks like this week the republica