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Transcripts For ALJAZAM News 20131205

don't ask, don't tell, gay veterans talk about the challenges faced in the military and out. we begin with breaking news. 20 are dead and doze ens injured after a series of attacks in yemen. the defence ministery in sanaa was targeted. a suicide car bomber ran the gate while gunmen on food opened fire on the other side. the explosion damaged a hospital. there has been no claim of responsibility. a group of militants linked to al-qaeda is based in yemen. the country is under an interim government since the ousting of the president. good to have you with us. welcome to al jazeera america. i'm thomas drayton. closer to home temperatures are plunging. a blast of arctic air is bringing cold, know and ice tomorrows. the snow is 3 feet deep. in nebraska temperatures are sub zero with wind chills of 20 below. more expected in the rockies. it's a lot different along the east coast where it's warmer than usual. other metrologist nicole mitchell as more. >> the unmistakable sound of wind plunging temperatures by 20-30 degrees in half the country in 24 hours. the cold snap was bringing snow, ice and subzero temperatures, impacting 33 million men's. >> it's terrible. >> watch as the time lapse drops 53 to 10. it's some of the goldest weather, making an impact with a deep freeze causing snow across the highways. >> from loads littered with spin outs and semi trucks sliding to conditions in reno. it's a brutal storm carining into winter. across the west temperatures could plummet up to 40 degrees below formal. >> two feet of snow left drivers stranded. many shovelled around their tyres to keep moving. the arctic blast is building bringing wind chills to montana. new york is experiencing temperatures topping 60 degrees, about 15 degrees higher normal: >> in california it is threatening the orange crops. much of the fruit is unplucked as workers are in a race against time. they could use it all in an overnight freeze. >> worst says scenario we'll lose $2 billion of product and have unemployment of 15,000 people. >> a winter blast with far-reaching consequences. >> what is going on this morning. metrologist nicole mitchell is joining us. we have many elements. everything from brutally cold air. we had reports of loss of life when people have been out in the weather. to the snow and freezing precipitation. freezing precipitation will be a big concern as this scoots further south. we were showing you some images, there's a break in the snow, and more adding to the 2-3 feet around the arrowhead of minnesota. the pinks are what i'm mentioning. even if the snow tapered off, the wind gusts 20, 30, 40 miles per hour, blowing the snow on the ground. so you don't feel like you are out of this. all of this moves southward. we are seeing peaks in missouri. it could be enough of abb indication. you get 0.2 it could snap trees, bring down powerlines and makes the roads slick. you saw a video of a car moving out of control of i've lived in the north. that's a desperate feeling when you can't control who your car is doing. anywhere from the tip of kentucky to texas. work arkansas. that's where we saw the freezing precipitation on the road. the other side of this is arctic cold air. more on the temperatures in a couple of minutes. >> thank you. president obama says the american dream is threatened by a growing gap between the nations rich and poor. at a speech at the center for american progress, president obama said he'd devote the rest of his term to addressing income and equality he calls it the defining challenge of our time. >> the idea that a child may never escape that poverty because she lacks a dicent education or health care or a community that views her future as their own, that should affect all of us. >> it should compel us to action. we are a better country. let me repeat. the combined trends of inceffed inequality pose a fundamental effect. >> republicans were quick to cit size of president's remarks. the income gap is caused by policies claiming that the affordable care act and tougher business regulations encourage company depends on the government. the statistics are telling. from 2009 to 2012 the average engine from the top 1% of earners increased 31%. incomes for the rest of the nation's workers rose by one half of one%. >> thousands of fast-food workers scheduled to last their ship are striking. in 100 cities they are striking, demanding pay. today's strikes are the latest move in a campaign that started last summer. the medium wage is slightly more than $900. >> the workers live in poverty, working in conditions. >> more than two and a quarter americans have non-management jobs with the top 10 fast food chains. anti-government forces, and the post soviet leaders issued solidarity. one is viktor yushenko, coming to power after the orange revolution in 2004. >> the protest scores have persisted for weeks. barnaby phillips reports from kiev. foreign ministers from across europe have come to kiev. this was a scheduled meeting of the osce. it's not in relation to the political crisis specifically, but you can imagine at that meeting ukraine is bound to feature and there'll be different preaches. for example, the general j the polish and the swedish for instances have been outspoken critic much russia's policy towards ukraine. but sergei lavrov, the russian foreign minister is here, and yesterday he condemned what he called n.a.t.o. inference into the domestic matters of the you grain. meanwhile, as you can see behind me the protest in independent square continues. there's a question, a doubt about momentum. people can carry on turning out in their thousands as they have been doing. ultimately they need a clear idea of their objectives, what they are trying to achieve and how they can achieve it. i'm not sure that they have that. that's why the ukrainian government policy may be to sit this thing out. >> barnaby phillips reports from kiev. a shift from protests on the streets of thailand. they paused demonstrations out of respect for the kings birthday. >> this was a day to fill the streets and put politics aside. tens of thousands of thais came out to see their beloved king. >> translation: i'm happy to celebrate his birthday. it makes me happy to see him. i wish he would be with us forever. >> as each year passes concern grows about the 8 six-year-old. he made a brief address and spoke of the need to ensure stability. >> all thais should consider this and focus on doing duties in accordance with responsibilities for the greater interest, which is the security and stability of the country. >> it's said the kink is above politics. in thailand he's never far away. it's a direct reference to the counter dries sis. the scenes of celebration for the king were in contrast to the violence on the streets of bangkok. protesters are calling for the government go. a truce was negotiated as a mark of respect to the king. >> we have to believe in him. we should listen to him about the conflict. >> the protest movement has not given up. at its headquarters people turned their tapes to the birthday. inside protesters took time to rest before they regrouped and continues in a push. >> the government, think military leaders and others gather before the birthday celebration started, providing an opportunity to discuss of the situation. nothing has changed, neither side is backing down. the king's birthday provided thailand with peace. >> in clashes 5 were killed, 300 injured. >> vice president joe biden has wrapped up a visit to china with no solution to a squabble over air security and spoke with chinese officials. tensions rose when china expanded the air defense zones to include the islands. both powers have a stake in preserving international security. >> china's recent announcement of the establishment of the air defense zone has caused significant apprehension management region. i was firm in my conversations with the president. >> a pact between the two powers is vital for the asian pacific. he's heading to see yes, the final stop on his far east trip. >> up to 5 billion cell phones are being tracked based on leaks from former n.s.a. contractors, and interviews with u.s. intelligence officials. >> the report said the n.s.a. can pin down the location of a cell phone and map out relationships from them. the spy agency say it does not target the whereabouts of phones in the u.s. the n.s.a. confirmed it gathers information about americans insidently. >> a scam was discovered by trust wave. militias viruses were sent to thousands of users. it tracked credential. users of facebook, yahoo twitter could be affected. 16,000 accounts were hacked that use 123456. >> anarchy in argentina, why police refuse to put a stop no wild looting in one city. >> american doctors on the front lines of a bird flu scare half a world away. >> they've come a long way since don't ask, don't tell. coming out created new problems. >> you are looking at dallas, were there may be rain together and possibly tonight. good morning, welcome back to al jazeera america. i'm thomas drayton. looting in argentina, why the police did not step in to stop it. >> first a look at the weather. we were talking in the break. i'm from minnesota, thomas lived in alaska, we have seen the temperatures. they are not great when you are not used to them. minus 10 in denver. we have wind gusts. this is what we are worrying about. it feels like minus 32. you want to by bundled up. no exposed skin, you can be frost bite and hypothermia. we have the warm corridor ahead of this. that will sink southward with the cold air over the next couple of days and the course of the weekend wind chills below zero. >> we had our fair share of the coals. venezuela is signing a decree. sellers have been charging a premium for used cars. used cars can't be sold for prices higher than new vehicles, violators can get up to 12 years in gaol. >> when looting broke out police did nothing in argentina's second largest city. crowds attacked shops and supermarkets. at least three people were killed and dozens hurt. al jazeera's monica kiev reports. >> the loot ers and robbers came out in force sacking supermarkets, breaking windows and attacking people in the streets of kordova. they enjoyed a free rein after police refused to leave their barracks. they went out on strike after negotiations over a salary increase broke down. in argentine the government collects taxes and distributes to the opposition. it is collected by of the opposition, cristina fernandez de kirchner is accused of tolding the funds back. >> the arrival of argentine president cristina fernandez de kirchner had complained that her government denied appeals for reinforcements. and accused cristina fernandez de kirchner of shortchanging provinces. >> translation: there exists autonomy. public security is one of these. the matter has to do with salaries. >> the governor claimed the police walked off the jobs in retaliation for his decision to shut down more than 100 brothels paying off corrupt officers. the police began returning to work after they were offered salary increases and bonuses making then the best paid in the country. >> i want to tell the people that from this moment the police force returns to the service of the people of kordova. >> the governor vowed to travel to the capital to depend they stop playing politics with his money. >> the provincial grandfather ner blamed the violence. and prime minister sis that they'll face justice. >> apple has reportedly signed a long anticipated deal with china mobile. the deal was reported by "the wall street journal." it would allow apple to distribute iphones. china mobile's subscriber base is seven times large erp than horizon. >> the labour department will issue a weekly report on benefits. a report showing growth in the private job sector was released wednesday. the housing recovery has been a big driver. >> every construction job leads to three others. we can see a million new jobs coming out, back to norm. that will take us a good way back to where we need to be in terms of our job growth. >> full coverage. jobs report on al jazeera throughout the day and friday morning. >> wall street sticking to the sidelines. stocks futures are pointing to losses at the open. the dow and s and p falling. the dow jones industrial average starts at $15,889. the s&p 500. the nasdaq staying above the key. overseas european markets are fluctuating between games and losses ahead of monetary decisions with the european central bank and the banks in england. markets in asia fell. the nikkei fell 1.5%. an iconic car brand is reaching a new design. the car goes on sale next fall in north america and rolls out later in europe and asia. ford won't reveal the price tag, but the version starts at 23,000. >> secretary of state john kerry arrives in jerusalem where he met with prime minister benyamin netanyahu. he held a joint news conference. relations and easing of sanctions in iran. >> this is the first time john kerry stepped in since talks started in july. what should we expect? >> good morning, john. yes, i think kerry arrives with a huge agenda pushing forward tonne middle east peace. while he's doing that the u.s.-israel relationship is strained. it's not clear whether the top allee is nuf to push it forward. the two militaries, greece and italy as well, held an air drill. the two military share vital intelligence. israel achieved more assistance from barack obama than any other president. >> america's support is unprecedented. the reliance between the nations never stronger. >> israel has no better friend than the united states of america. >> that was march. then came last month's nuclear deal with iran. the two allies clashed publicly. >> this agreement made the world a much more dangerous place. >> >> prime minister benyamin netanyahu seems willing to purpose the white house's patients to the bridges to make a point. why? in israel it's popular. in a recent poll said 80% would not stop iran's nuclear program. many believe it has the same intentions as nazi jeremy. >> the state of how israel was created hangs over our head 60-70 years later. every generation someone is trying to wipe us out. we have to fight bark. >> even if at odds with its best ali. kerry is pushing a preliminary security plan with israel this morning, with his meeting with prime minister benyamin netanyahu. what he hopes to do is convince israel if its borders are secure other issues of peace can be glossed over or come to a conclusion, but the fact is neither side is giving an indication that the gaps are being bridged. >> we'll follow the talks closely. al jazeera's reporting live in jerusalem. >> bankrupt in detroit. some say the city's art collection should be sold to pay billions in debt. are the paintings and pieces worth that much. retirees that change for a rainy day want their money. rules to be changed. and a safety feature that might have prevent the train wreck. we'll talk about why it didn't do what it was supposed do do. >> jameis winston finds out toot if he will be charged with scpooul assault. details in a bit. you are waking up with a look at the city this morning. coming right back. pers person welcome back to al jazeera america. let's get caught up on the top stories that we are following. a suicide bomber attacked the yemen defence ministry in the capital of sanaa. 20 were killed least. the driver drove a car packed with ex-please -- explosives into the gate. >> there's a storm that could bring major outages. [ chants ] . fast food work e are hitting the picket loip line. in detroit the search is on for assets. christie's auction has was fired by the city to prays the collection at the detroit snoous of arts. -- institute of art. >> $450 mill to $600 million is the estimate of what the arts are worth. kevin orr and creditors have been given a snaphot of what it's worth and if it's worth selling off to pay some of the $18 billion debt. the city is eligible for bankruptcy, and orr hasn't ruled out a fire sale. >> i said when i was in the room on 25 march that everything was on the table. that is true even now. >> with donated and endowed artwork. off limits. christy's reports reflect the value of 5% of the museum's collection. it amounts to 3,000 pieces of work. among them paintings and sculptures by world renowned artists such as bruegel and van go. >> some are disappointed the amount is lower than what it is. >> university of detroit law prover larry dubin says creditors seeking to claim what they are ode go after the city's art for compensation. >> i think creditors will fight as hard as they can. >> during the bankruptcy elegibility federal judge steven rhodes didn't say whether he'd allow the sale of prized artwork. he cautioned the city to take care when deciding to sell assets the detroit institute of arts is readying to a fight. they released this statement which reads this part: >> if the collection is jeopardise the dia is committed to taking action to preserve the cultural birth right for future generation generations. some creditors say the cityies collection of classic cards >> chicago is facing a similar crisis, saddled with a $19 billion pension plan. the city must boost its contribution by $590 million. increasing the money to $1.5 billion. the mayor said the citiy will be forced to double property taxes or eliminate services. >> bureau of stat is it thes said union membership decreased. there's an age disparity. >> the rate is 15.6%. for workers 55 to 64. the numbers drops from young people to 4.2%. to discuss the ruling and how it could affect pensions is the founder and managing attorney of romando law. >> when the judge handed down the ruling, there was a hush. this is a monumental decision. >> the largest public sector bankruptcy in history. there were 100,000 creditors, 48 unions. the sheer size is more than double the previous record. >> we talk about the unions, nobody is safe, including the unions. >> $3.5 billion to $6 billion in pension obligations. they represent 36% of the operating budget at the time of the bankruptcy. by contrast in the largest 250 cities legacy payments are closer to 10%. >> what is happening here. pensions could be cut. >> that is part of the great unknown. how much will it be cut. 10%, 20. or as high as 50%. >> doesn't michigan law protect the pensioners. >> pensions are referred to as c contractural obligations. >> these pension agreements can be seen as a contract to set a legal precedent across the country. could other municipalities follow suit. >> as one said, this could be the canary in the goldmine. >> could this weaken the power of the union? >> potentially, yes. it's a danger. >> so, you know, asking the question of what will happen next, it will be appealed. could it go to the supreme court. they could argue that the unions or the city didn't negotiate with the unions, there's 48 unions. >> that's an interesting question the the judge noted as a matter of fact that it would have been impractical. given the time line of the bankruptcy, a third of ambulances in detroit are nonfunctional according to reports. only 9% of police cases are solved. there's a problem and immediacy. so the judges as a matter of fact ruled that. it would have been an impracticality. to repeal you need decisions of law. it's questionable whether the supreme court will hear the case. >> who do you think will prevail. >> kevin orr has his work cut out for him. >> we'll see other cities follow suit. if detroit prevails, you look at this as a contract. it's meant to be broken, the union doesn't have the power. >> contracts are meant to be preserved under extreme circumstances. what we are seeing is hopefully an unusual restricted situation and hopefully chicago can avoid the fate. do you think chicago will bounce back. >> warren buffet called it a city of potential. goldman sacks is in there. a lot of investors are noted. now is the time to invest in detroit. >> remains to be seen. good to have you with us. >> tapes of calls made to 911 during the sandy hook mass anger were released to the media. al jazeera america decided not to air the recordings, but they reveal information you should know. we heard seven recordings made to 911 after the shootings started. at 9.35 a woman who sounded frightened reached a dispatcher saying she was in a school and saw someone running down the hall with a gun. saying: is it >> connecticut prosecutors argued not to release the tapes, but was overrule. >> according to the "new york times," the derailed train had a system that could warn the engineer, but the system was not in the front cab where wim rockefeller was at the controls, it was in the back. >> highly radioactive waste has been recovered. the gunmen who took the truck probably made a fatal make. the truck was found wednesday that remote area. it was taking cobalt treatments to a dump site. the radioactive container was open. anyone exposed to it could be in grave danger of dying within days. >> a public health warning in hong kong is at a serious stage. scientists around the globe are trying to find a vaccine to fight the virus. the solution could be found in nashville. >> china has been on high alert. world health organization said there has been 19 deaths. >> close contact with birds results in the influenzaa going from the bird to a person. when the individual is suspected. the infection is serious. >> imports of chickens were suspended on mainland china. >> there is no evidence that the h 7 and 9 strain spends from human to human. there are fears that the virus could mutate. >> they are taking this very, very serious. and, of course, one of the reasons they are doing it is influenzaa - this strain of flunsa and birds does not make the bird sick. so you can't follow the sick birds. >> here on the campus the frontlines of vaccine research for the strain over in china funded by the national institute of health - there's a tape of a dozen doctors and scientists working to find a vaccine to treat people around the world. three months ago vanderbilt researcher dr katherine edwards joined the search. >> the chinese were good about sharing the virus with the who and with the c d.c. so we could begin of grow the virus. >> in the test trials it affected 200 people. that led to a development of a successful vaccine. researchers in nashville know while china is more than 8,000 miles away a global apply pandemic could be on the way. >> it used to be if it happened in china, we wouldn't see it, but basically they are a plane ride away. >>. >> they are of no fear. america should know the public health infrastructure is alert to this. we are all tuned in, on top of it and watching it. >> as test trials continued, researchers will be ready to share and release the vaccine. should the h 7 and nine influenza begin to spread. >> a 36-year-old woman fell ill after coming in contact with poultry during a trip to china. >> dementia cases could triple. they project an increase from 44 million to 135 million. alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia. there are few effective treatments. leaders will meet in london for a summit on dementia. >> an american couple welcomed triplets. conceived without fertility. it's a 1:1 million event. the parents are working on ways how to well which is which. >> it is judgment day for jamesin winston. the florida state quarterback who led his team to the numberiun ranking and in the running for a heisman trophy will find out if he's going be charged with sexual assault. willie meggs said his investigation is complete. a decision will be made at 2:00 pm eastern time. he was named a.c.c. player of the years. the deadline for voting for the heisman trophy is due monday. today's decision will answer a lot of questions. jameis winston in the meantime has the support of his team-mates. i'm used to maintaining myself and the team - the guys around it, you may think i'm just saying this. when you have good guys around you and people around you, it's easy, you can be yourself. you don't have to worry about he lame, you can be yourself. these guys don't care. you have the same goal. that's how you be successle. >> in college hoops, north carolina is a dr jekyll and mr hyde team. sometimes they are unstoppable. other times they stake it up to the best of them. last night north carolina mans up against number one michigan stake. bryce thompson jumping out to a 14-point lead. >> adrian pain - he chipped in with 16. tied up at 232. in the second half the tar hills take control. jt off and running, jamming it home. north carolina up by a six back the the tar hills buzzing. they spank the number one team in the country. 79-65 is the final. the best team, san antonio, no. clippers, no. how about the portland trail blazers. kevin durant and the thunder with an 8-game win streak. throwing a block party. durant on the finish. slamming home 33 points. the traill blazers tom nated download. aldr. >> dge each high. nico la kabam. how about the pouredland trail blazers. they have won 14 of 15 games. they snap oklahoma city eight-game streak. the san antonio spurs and minnesota timberwolvek were supposed to play across the border. a generatedor malfunctions causing smoke. it was postponed to a later date. the fans were disappointed because the game would have been the first conference in mexico city sips 1997 when the rockets and maverics whoop it up. they'll get a refund. unfortunately they won't see two great games. >> gays in the military. they have come a long way since don't ask, don't tell. coming out of the closet, they say, has created a set of issues. >> an art auction show down over an american original. two bidders drove up the price of a norman rockwall pointing, "saving grace. ". we have had the cold. now we are watching for an ice storm. >> fast food workers are set to strike. chicago is one of those. and mcdonald's, one of those where they say they are paid a poverty wage. hello, welcome back to al jazeera america. it was a huge step to get rid of don't ask, don't tell two years ago in the military. we'll look at how far gay veterans have come from then and how far they have to go. first, let's look at where the snow and rain may fall across the county. winter does not start the sol stars until a couple of weeks, meteor logically i'll claim that winter is here with some of this, ice on the way. we are starting to see it develop in missouri, but it's the core from kentucky to northern parts of the texas are i'm particularly concerned about the core that could be centered over arkansas. that's why we have the different ice storm warnings, and then around that where the snowier side will be winter storm warnings, meaning that it's basically impending. an a watch means the conditions are right. you can start to see the pinks filling in. that's the freezing rain, the stuff coming down as a liquid. it's super cool. mid west it's tapering off. reduced visibility. >> ferries are being used to help residents get on and off north carolina's island before state officials shut the bridge connecting it to the mainland. the trip on the ferry takes two hours. the bona bridge will likely be closed until the end of december. too much sand eroded from the bridge's support structure. >> according to the department of veterans affairs, a million of the military vets are gay. many are facing challenges in the civilian world. as part of our coverage al jazeera's melissa chan takes a closer look at the programs offered to help them out. >> getting together to discuss a difficult issue - whether to allow military recruiters at the san francisco's pride celebrations. some veterans had to spend their careers in the closest. the overturn of don't ask, don't tell is new. the services are still learning. it's going very well so far, i expect that there are going to be some bumps in the road. >> john serves on the san francisco veteran affairs commission. he kept his sexual orientation secret. >> i can understand why the don't ask, don't tell - that is how many of us lived our lives, closeted and sheltered. >> the military has come far. veterans' affairs hospitals like this in san francisco launched pilot programs to provide psychologists to handle post traumatic stress caused by antidiscrimination. >> getting the message out that the hospitals welcome lgtb veterans is half the battle. he and his colleagues visit job fairs, community vents. >> veterans have been excited, impressed and surprised that we offered the program and asked for more services. >> the va manages a hot line specifically for gay and lesbian veterans. >> this is the first generation, the first year or two where we had large numbers of lgte people. they may be responding different to that in the past. >> taylored services will go far. there's a feeling in lgtb circles that counselling program only address heterosexuals. >> there's a lot of flag waving, hypermasculine. not much has changed. the political climate has been haltered. it could be years before cultural attitudes catch up. >> in september, after the supreme court struck down the defensive marriage act. president obama ordered spouses of same-sex spouses to be given the same benefits. >> scientists decoded the oldest dna sequence. they hope it was related to the neanderthals. instead it's related to a group of ancient humans. the remains could explain how humans evolved and spread. a record prize for an american master piece. this is "saying grace." it's a 1951 oil painting by norman rockwell. two bidders battled during a sotheby's auction. when the hammer came down it sold for 46 million, three times higher than the top price. it's considered a popular of the minipointings that rock well did. the work of cinema clients of charlie chaplin has been lost to decay. more on what is left of the slept era. >> charlie chapli, in a great of cinema. a pioneering entertainer he rose to fame during the era of the silent films. a director, composer and actor he is seen in his signature role. early motion pictures were called silent because synchronised dialogue was not possible. the sound full musical scores composed and enhancing the emotional swell of the scope was added during editing. that silent film laid the language and ground work for sina madography. talkies soon were born. silent film effectively disregard. the golden age of film lasted from 1912. during the period 11,000 movies were made. only a quarter have survived in their entirety. a lot in a lower quality. another 5% are in complete. the rest an overwhelming 70% are deemed lost. so few frames exist. one of the most notable is this 1970 version of cleopatra. the minutes of footage preserved are prize the as a cinematic classic. the latest study released by the u.s. library of congress blames decay and neglect for the loss. the first generation of film stock was made of nitrate, which was flammable and decomposes. movie studios played a roll in destroying print and negatives, and along with it a part of cinematic history. . from black and wight to colour, 45,000 colourful led lights are glowing on the rockefeller christmas tree. the 70 foot-norway spruce was donated by a connecticut family. it is topped with an swarostki star. the tree will shine through january 7th. >> stephanie sy with us to look at the top stories in the next hour. >> fast food workers in more than 100 cities are expected to strike. they want a rise from poverty wages to $15. >> a storm bringing freezing temperatures from the rockies to the plains. >> hackers steal more than 2 million passwords from facebook, yahoo! and twitter. >> stolen information has been posted. >> high level talks with the president of china. c the two men did not see eye to eye on the air defense zone. >> mexican authorities recover a stolen truck filled with radioactive material. why someone is exposed to the deadly chemical. >> in sport someone has to win. the new york knicks and the nets in their battle. >> a storm gripping the country is causing everything from deadly roads to record snow. i'll tell you who is in the path. >> al jazeera america continues - stephanie sy and i will be back with you in 2.5 minutes. (vo) al jazeera america we understand that every news story begins and ends with people. >> the efforts are focused on rescuing stranded residents. (vo) we pursue that story beyond the headline, past the spokesperson, to the streets. >> thousands of riot police deployed across the capitol. (vo) we put all of our global resources behind every story. >> it is a scene of utter devastation. (vo) and follow it no matter where it leads, all the way to you. al jazeera america. take a new look at news. determining using some sort of subjective interpretation of their policy as to whether or not your particular report was actually abusive, because if it doesn't contain language that specifically threatens you directly or is targeted towards you specifically, they may not consider it abuse. they may consider it offensive. and in that case they just recommend that you block that person. >> i don't want to minimise this, because i mean, there's some really horrible things that are on line, and it's not - it's not just twitter, what has happened through social media and the anonymity of the net is that you see websites, hate-filled websites targetting all sorts of groups, popping up. there has been a huge number of those that exist as well. >> living wage, fast food workers prepare to strike in more than 100 cities to demand a livable wage, as president obama renewed his call for a minimum wage hike. >> temperatures plunging in much of the u.s., bringing freezing rain, sleet and snow. >> chaos in yemen, a car bomb explodes. shots ring out. the government battles al-qaeda and rebels. >> how many more children do you have to disserve before you say let's try something different. >> something different and controversial. the proposal for a better educational system in louisiana as residents get a lesson on race and class. >> fast food might not be as fast today, as workers in 100 cities say they will walk off the job. good morning and welcome to aljazeera. i'm stephanie sy. >> i'm thomas drayton, good to have you with us. thousands of workers will picket. strikes are planned for the first time in charleston, south carolina, providence, riled and pittsburgh. it's an on going push to raise ourly wages in the industry to $15. fast food workers are among the lowest paid workers in the country. >> low wages are being addressed by president obama. in a speech wednesday, the president said he will dough vote the rest of his term to addressing income inequality. >> the idea that a child may never be able to climb out of positivity, that should offend all of us and compel to us action. we are a better country than this. let me repeat. the combined trends of increase in equality and decreasing equality pose a threat to the american dream and what we stand for around the world. >> wal-mart workers walked off the job on black friday demanding equality. >> hotel workers in seattle tack coma airport got their wages bumped up to $15 an hour from the current $7.25. last year, 200 fast food workers held a one day strike at more than 20 restaurants in new york. what are we expecting today. >> well, stephanie, it certainly remains to be seen, but this movement has picked up steam. this started about a year ago, small in new york with just a few workers walking out, but back here in august this summer, this particular mcdonald's, 500 people staged a protest, disrupting service. not all of those workers were fast food workers. many were with different unions, different community members, who she passionate about this cause. it remains to be seen. and you say mentioned last time, about 60 cities are hoping for 100 cities to participate. this started yesterday, this wave of protests with a number of people, including one particular group, moveon.org delivered petitions to fast foot restaurants in several cities. >> you could work full time here and still not be able to support yourself, much less a family. here we are with we won't say who, the people who shut down the government talking about people being lays and they cut food stamps and here are people working full time, working overtime, not being given wage that is they can live on. when everybody has decent wages, i think the whole economy goes better. i think the economy has just gone down the tubes because of the 1% who want to make the most out of the misery of others. >> the sticking point here is that these workers and folks behind them are asking for a $15 an hour federal minimum wage. that's not the only point here. they really also want to be able to unionize without any fear of retaliation. >> we'll continue to check back in with you throughout the day. thanks. >> stephanie, this latest strike is similar to once we've seen across the country, focusing on income and equality. much of that money is going to wealthier americans. the income of the top 1% grew by 31.4% since 2009, but for everyone else barely moved, growing less than has half a%. much of this battle has been over the minimum wage of $7.25. president obama suggested that rates should be hiked to $10.10 an hour. if it were tied to productively ty, one study said that figure really should be $21.72. >> temperatures are plunging right now across much of the country. a blast of arctic air is bringing bone-chilling cold along with snow and ice storms. it's a different situation along the east coast where temperatures have been a lot warmer than usual. nicole mitchell has more. >> a bone chilling wind has already plunged temperatures by 20-30 degrees in half the country by 24 hours. the cold snap is bringing a brutal mix of snow, ice and sub zero temperatures, impacting 33 million americans. >> it's terrible. it's terrible. watch this time laps as it drops from 54 to 10. it's making an impact with a deep freeze, causing slick roads across america's highways. >> we're going to hit! oh! >> semi trucks sliding in iowa, across the west, some temperatures could plummet 40 degrees. it's not just the biting record cold. around duluth, many shoveling around their tires just to keep moving. >> i've never seen it like this before. >> wind chills in montana are 30 below zero. new york, temperatures could top 60 degrees today, about 15 degrees higher than normal. back in california, the deep freeze is threatening its citrus crop. >> they'll go bitter on you fairly fast if they're frozen hard. >> 85% of the fruit in this multi-billion dollars industry still unplucked as workers race time. they could lose it all in an overnight freeze. >> worst case scenario, we'll lose about $2 billion in product, have unemployment of 15,000 people. >> a winter blast with far-reaching consequences. >> we're kind of all over the place, aren't we? >> it's so many elements of this storm, from the brutal cold that is really deadly to where the snow is tapering off, the high winds are still blowing that. on the southern end is where we'll see the potential for freezing rain and then an ice storm all with the same system. even with this snow starting to taper off, the wind is what keeps some of those winter storm advisories and warnings up in portions of the midwest, plus the brutal wind chill we're dealing with. on the southern end is where we're watching for ice. i am so concerned with that. parts of arkansas, a half to three quarters of an inch, that's the type which ice that brings down trees, it causes severe problems on the roads. if you've ever lived in areas where you can't the control where your car is going, it's that type of ice. >> we're going to watch for this, the corridor, texas dealing with that. we're not used to driving in that court of weather. as it coats the frees, that causes the power outages. also the arctic air. we were talking about denver and how those temperatures dropped. they continue to drop to below zero. that some of these wind chills are 30 blow and 40 blow. i'll have more on the temperature side of that coming up in just a few minutes. >> a developing story we're following now, at least 20 people are dead and dozens more injured after a series of attacks in yemen. the heavily guarded defense ministry in the capitol was targeted. a suicide car bomber rammed the gate on one side of the building while gunman on foot opened fire on the other side. the explosion damaged a hospital inside the complex. there has been no claim of responsibility, but a group of militants linked to al-qaeda is based in yemen. the country is under an interim government since the ouster of the president two years ago. >> vice president joe biden has wrapped up his visit to china after spending several hours with chinese leaders discussing the new air defense zone that is raising tensions in the region. china is not backing down from its claims to the zone, covering disputed island also claimed by japan. the u.s. has flown military aircraft into the zone without notifying china. biden stressed that the two powers have a stake in preserving international security. >> we're trying to build a new kind of relationship between major powers, one that's different, one that is defined by constructive cooperation, healthy competition and a shared respect for an agreed upon new set of rules of the road and international norms. >> biden stressed that a pact between the two powers is vial for the entire asian practicing civic. he is now heading to south korea. >> mexican police have recovered a stolen van carrying highly radioactive waste. they say someone opened the container containing the cobalt 60. the community has worries about the radioactive exposure. >> soldiers and police cordoned off the area where the stolen material was found. 150 families from this town north of mexico city have been evacuated. the nuclear safety commission said there is no risk as long as people stay clear of the material. some residents aren't convinced. >> this danger of radioactive exposure, we don't know however this could go. it could kill you. >> the cobalt was encased, but someone opened the container. whoever it was was exposed to a lethal dose of radiation, according to mexico's nuclear safety director. officials say it was the thieves, but one emergency worker said other people might have been exposed. >> people say they found it and they decided to bring it home so they could open it. they were thinking of selling it as scrap metal. >> this is the gas station where gunman stole the truck. it had no security escort. the driver was sleeping when two men pulled him out of the truck and left him in a nearby lot. officials don't think thieves knew what they were stealing. this is the largest amount of radioactive material ever stolen in mexico. >> in mexico, we have something like 3500 or something provisional soldiers and when we experience loss or theft of about future to suction units a year and most has been recovered. >> this was only recovered once it was out in the open. police and soldiers have been searching for the stolen vehicle using radioactive detectors. the head of mexico's nuclear safety commission tells us that now authorities are considering providing security to escort such transport vehicles in the future. aljazeera, mexico city. >> officials say it could take at least two days to safely clean up the material and transport it to a waste site. >> cell phones are being tracked by the n.s.a. according to a washington post report based on leaks from edward snowden. the report says the u.s. can pin down the location of a cell phone anywhere in the world and map out relationships from them. the spy agency said it does not target the whereabouts of phones in the u.s. but confirms that it collects a great deal of data about americans incidentally. >> hackers have stolen more than 2 million user names and pass words on some of the world's most popular sites. the scam was discovered by trust wave, a cyber security firm. they say malicious viruses were sent to countless computers capturing credentials. users of facebook, yahoo and g mail could be affected. 16,000 accounts were hacked that use the password 123456. >> the engineer of the commuter train that crashed in new york has been suspended without pay. a spokesman said that with my rockefeller is out of service and not being paid. "the new york times" says the train featured a system that can warn the engineer of a potential accident and even apply the brakes, but the system was not in the front cab, where rockefeller was at the controls. it was installed in the locomotive, which was pushing the train from the back. trains are running on the normal schedule today, including the bronx near the scene of sunday's derailment. >> thigh land has negotiated a troupe truce with protestors. protest leaders say they will be on the streets afterwards. police allowed demonstrators to enter government compounds. the brief lull is to honor the thai king on his birthday. he urged people to support each other for the sake of the country. protests turned violent last weekend. four people died. >> foamer presidents joined together giving a nod to the thousands of ukrainians taking to the streets and condemned the excessive use of force being used against them. meanwhile, some ukrainian officials are calling for negotiations to end the standoff. with he report from the heart of the pro evident the in key every. >> foreign ministers from across europe have come to key every today. this was a scheduled meeting of the o.s.c.e. it's not in relation to the political crisis here specifically, but you can imagine that at that meeting, ukraine is bound to feature and there will be some very different professionals. the german, the polish and swede issue fortune ministers have been outstone critics of russia's poles against ukraine. as you can see behind me, the protests in independence square continue. there is a doubt about momentum. people can carry on turning out in the thousands as they have been doing, but ultimately need a clear idea of their objectives of what they're trying to a ooh chief and how they can achieve it. i'm not sure necessarily they have that and that's why the ukrainian government's policy maybe to sit this out. >> there are new fears about meningitis. >> another college campus is facing students sickened with the disease. >> the steps officials are taking to contain the outbreak. >> president obama's health care allow could force doctors to take on more patients. that how that could affect your medical care. >> $60 billion, it is our big number of the day, and it's how much one tech giant could be giving back. where that money will be going. >> todd, big number, $60 billion, that's the number brooklyn hour carl eye cob wants apple to give back to investors in a share buy o. back. it's a dispute between the two sides and the center of time's cover story. he wants them to spend more of its massive stockpile. his initial request was $100 billion. he believes the giant should share more wealth with stock hold jeers a lot of money to give back. welcome back. >> a new meningitis scare erupted at another university, sickening four people so far. this particular strain has no treatment. we'll find out what steps are being taken to battle the disease. >> we've got a lot to talk about, meteorologist nicole mitchell. >> there are decent ones out there. where it's most critical is northern plains, northern midwest. we had sub zero temperatures, denver now at minus 12. the winds gusting easily in the 30-40-mile per hour range means it feels like in fargo minus 20's. the next couple mornings, those wind chills could be 30 below zero and 40 below zero. that is very easy to get frostbite and hope poe therm i can't very quickly. ahead of that, we've got 50's and 60's before the front pulls through. negative overnight as we get to the northern plains, so it is going to stay dangerously cold. a lot of wet weather causing problems, i'll have more on that coming up. >> students at the university of california santa barbara are urged to avoid social he gent after a fourth case of meningitis is on campus. the school is working to provide hand sanitizers as students prepare for final exams next week. health officials are trying to determine the source of the outbreak. there is no certainty they will find the cause. we have more. >> four students at this sprawling campus developed this rare formal of meningitis in four weeks. one in four who catch it die. >> when this outbreak started, when we had three cases two weeks ago, we recognize that had three cases within two weeks was a dangerous situation. >> one student, a freshman lacrosse player had such a serious case that both his feet had to be computated. >> the sepsis can be overwhelming and the body becomes toxic and hands and feet are overwhelmed with infection and end up being amputated. >> students are avoided about being too class, sharing drinks and kissing. the huge frat house party scene has been shut down. what the four cases have in common is that the students went the to parties or had roommates who did. >> my friends here are pretty bummed out right now. >> the u.s. has no treatment for the strain that hit this campus. princeton university had eight cases in nine months caused by a similar strain and was recently given federal permission to import a european vaccine not approved in the u.s. santa barbara might need to do the same. for now, u.c. santa barbara is handing out antibiotics in an effort to stop the spread of the disease. >> more cases might be identified. some students have been tested who have flu like symptoms similar to what they'd have with minute in. >> it's. the results aren't in yet. >> a university spokesman said two of the sickened students have recovered and are back in classes. >> turning to business now, we'll learn about the health of the u.s. economy. the government will update the third quarter gross domestic product at 8:00 eastern. economists expect the g.d.p. to be revised upward to 3%. >> the labor department will release its weekly report on new unemployment benefits. a report showing strong growth in private sector jobs was released wednesday. tomorrow morning, we'll have full coverage of the much anticipated reports right here on aljazeera america. >> wall street is still not in a buying mode, pointing to losses at the open, do you futures down. the dow and s&p down yesterday, the longest losing streak in more than two months. the dow starts a 15,000, 889, the s&p add 17,092. the nasdaq above the key 4,000 level. european markets are lower, the bank of england announced it won't change its benchmark interest rates. markets in asia fell across the board with japan's nikkei falling 1.5% joanne iconic car brand is getting a new scene as it reaches its 50th birthday. the fort mustang is being launched. the car goals on sale next fall in north america and will roll out later in europe and asia. the current version starts at $23,000. >> under the affordable care act, doctors may end up with more patients and could be getting paid less for them. what does that mean for you? it could mean fewer doctors to choose from if you're self insured. we found out why. >> if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor, so long as your doctor keeps you. the new health law has many physicians wondering if they'll be able to afford to keep their self insured patients or accept new ones that get covered on the exchanges or through medicaid expansion. >> the first thing the physicians can expect is to see a lot more patients coming into their offices with health insurance and a lot more are going to be covered through medicaid, because the expansion is one of the biggest parts of the expansion in the affordable care act. >> millions get covered under the health law, and many doctors restrict medicaid patients because of low reimbursement rates. >> it comes down to how much am i going to be paid and am i going to have be able to practice the way i want to practice. >> medicaid rates vary from state to state but are belong medicare and private insurance. >> a brooklyn based ophthalmologist says that private insurance for a full eye exam reimbursement rates are $100. >> primary care rates and medicaid are going to have to go up by 73% nationally, but in new york, have to triple. >> private insurance companies are selling plans on the exchanges, doctors are ambivalent about whether they'll take that insurance. many plan to sit out the first year. 33% are not sure if they'll participate and nationwide, four in 10 physicians say they are still weighing options. lower payments to physicians experts say is one way of making the new plans more affordable. even for patients who have insurance that pay doctors higher rates, many new plans carry higher out of pocket costs, creating extra hurdles for doctors trying to collect, leaving physicians on the hook for those costs. >> many insurance companies are telling us they are not going to be advicing us of the actual duckable ahead of time, so the doctor cannot collect it in advance. that means that the doctor has to wait for the insurance company determination, has to bill the patient and then hope that the patient can pay it. >> that hope may not make financial sense for doctors when the drive to lower health care costs is already pressuring their bottom line. >> doctors say this could hinder their ability to pay their support staff. >> vice president joe biden wrapping up his trip to china. >> he was working to ease tensions between china and japan over a land dispute. >> we'll tell you whether he was able to accomplish that goal. >> secretary of state john kerry is working to strike peace between the israelis and palestinians. >> a deadly trip made by thousands looking to have a better life. why officials in one country are looking to crack down on refugees making their way in. >> florida state quarterback will find out today fell be charged with sexual assault. we'll have the details. >> you're waking up with a live look at kansas city, missouri. it's going to abbright day, but the temperature right now, 20 degrees with a wind chill of eight degrees. it is down right cold. good morning, welcome back to aljazeera. i'm thomas drayton. >> i'm stephanie sy. vice president biden has wrapped up his trip to china. they are considering vice president bides request to maintain peace in the region. we'll talk about how this is going to affect the china-u.s. relations. >> secretary of state john kerry is in the middle east dealing with his own set of tensions, taking part in another round of peace talks between israeli and palestinian officials, facing% six from the start about hopes for a breakthrough. in just a few minutes, we'll have more. >> in another international story, thousands of refugees travel from africa to europe. officials in spain are taking action amid a rise of people using one specific city as a stepping stone into europe. >> first, thousands of offensive food workers who are scheduled to start the their shifts this morning say they will picket instead. strikes are planned at fast food shops in 100 cities. the demands, higher pay. today's strikes are the latest move in a campaign that started last summer. the medium wage for u.s. fast food workers in more than $9 an hour. they want $15 and the right to unionize. >> vice president joe biden is in south korea. he spoke with chinese officials about their dispute over islands in the south china sea. china expanded its air defense zone to include those items. biden stressed that both have a stake in security. >> china's recent and sudden announcement on a new air defense identification zone has caused significant apprehension in the region. i was very direct about our official position and our expectations in my conversations with president chi. >> he stressed that a pact is vital for the asian pacific. >> joining us to discuss it is an expert at the and corporation, joining us from washington this morning. thanks for being with us. was biden able to diffuse any of the attention on this newly declared air defense zone? >> i think the answer was yes. this trip was planned well before the recent tensions, but the tensions not unexpectedly consumed a lot of time during his visit to china, talks in china, and in japan, and i'm sure will also consume a lot of time when he visits korea shortly. it did, he was able, i think, to emphasize to the chinese the level of concern that the united states has, and the ripple effects of this declaration throughout the region, so i think the message was received. >> what are the ripple effects? >> increase intentions, especially between china and japan. this is a volatile relationship to begin with, so this unilateral action on the part of the chinese sort of guaranteed to cause great concern in japan. >> is this really only about u.s. and japan and this tiny group of islands in the east china sea or is there a broader question about china's general rise in influence and in military power in that region? >> good question. i think these small, uninhabited islands to the casual observer don't seem that important, but for china, they are loomed very large and for three reasons. one is it's about japan, it involves japan. this is a very sensitive relationship in china. second, it involves a territorial dispute, and this is seen as a core chinese national interest, so it's very important. thirdly, these islands involve china's geo strategic ambitions. china wants to, has stated that it wants to expand its military influence out to the so-called second island chain, which includes this, so it's the east china sea is a region, maritime region that china wishes to project its military power on. >> the fact that china hasn't backed down makes me ask how much leverage does the u.s. really have with china in that region? are they the 800-pound gorilla? they are the largest foreign holders of our debt. >> i think you that's perhaps over -- perhaps not the best way to couch it. u.s. and china releases are property to both countries, and neither country, including china has anything to be gained from making this relationship go south or increasing tensions, so it's about managing differences and working together to resolve challenges. the chinese don't want to see this relationship go south, and the united states similarly wants to be able to work with china. when you think about what this chinese declaration means in the greater scheme of things, it's an inflammatory development and inflammatory act. in the greater scheme of things, it's a relatively moderate action. >> as long is a supposed there are no miscalculations when a u.s. fighter pilot collided with a chinese plane. >> that's why the united states has adopted the appropriate response, firm and the emphasis has been on trying to avoid these escalation and tragedies such as the one you mentioned. i think vice president biden has struck the right tone both with our allies and with china. >> all right, a delicate dance as they say. thank you, sir. >> you're welcome. >> secretary of state john kerry arrived in jerusalem this morning where he met with prime minister benjamin netanyahu. on the table, mideast relations and the easing sanctions on iran. what do we hear about today's talks between kerry and naten netanyahu? >> israeli wants to talk about iran, and what it wants to talk about is its continuing concerns about the initial deal that the u.s. and world powers pushed through about iran's nuclear program. israel feels that that deal doesn't actually stop iran's capacity to make a nuclear weapon. u.s. officials agree. we're not taking away iran's capacity to make a nuclear weapon. all we're doing is trying to freeze the program so the plutonium capacity doesn't increase so in six months, we can make a final deal. he was here to reassure the israelis that the u.s. is here listening to them. he knows that the iran deal is to be talked about. >> the bond between the united states and israel is unbreakable. while occasionally, we might have a difference of a tactical measure, we do not have a difference about the fundamental strategy we both seek be with the security of israel and the long term peace of this region. >> that is kerry's evident to reassure israel despite very public agreement between president obama and prime minister netanyahu. kerry hopes by reassuring israel, we can move to the next conversation about mideast peace. >> do we expect kerry's statements on iran that have any i will pact on peace talks with palestine? >> i think what we're already seeing is that the iran deal is limiting the u.s. capacity to negotiate, to have leverage over the israels. every analyst here, every official who knows prime minister netanyahu says the u.s. didn't listen over iran, therefore he won't listen to the u.s. john kerry and his advisors are pushing forward with a peace process plan emphasizing security. kerry will talk about the security of israeli. >> we'll see where these talks will lead, reporting live in jerusalem, thank you. >> the 14-year-old massachusetts boy accused of slitting the throat of his math teacher in a school bathroom is pleading not guilty. phillip chisholm appeared in court to enter his plea, charged with killing 24-year-old teacher and dumping her body near the school. he is held without bail. >> the arizona division of forestry has received the largest fine ever given to a fire division. the division of occupational safety and health fined the division in connection with the yarn necessarily fire. it's accused of not having proper plans in place and failing to provide key personnel. the fine includes a penalty of $25,000 for each firefighter killed. >> the death of a man at a kansas city chiefed football game is ruled a homicide. police say it could take weeks before they know exactly how he died. he was found unconscious outside arrowhead stadium sunday and died inside a hospital. witnesses report seeing a scuffle between him and another man. >> a lot of questions will be answered at sports today. >> we are playing the waiting game, but the florida state quarterback who has led his team to the number one ranking will find out today fell be charged with sexual assault. the state attorney said that his investigation is complete and that a decision on whether or not to charge winston for sexual assault, which occurred last december, will be made at 2:00 p.m. today, eastern standard time. winston was just named the player of the year and his team will be playing the conference championship team saturday. the deadline in voting for the heisman trophy is due monday. today's decision will answer a lot of questions moving forward. >> in the nba, talk about a drought. the last time the indiana pacers won in utah, "million dollar baby" won for best picture and brad pitt broke up with jennifer aniston and started dating angelina jolie. >> coast-to-coast against the jazz, oh, baby. pacers up by three. down the stretch, the pacers would continue to feed their money man at george cashes in the there'll. raise your hands if you're sure. the pacers would go on to win in utah for the first time since woman five. 95-86 is your final. >> everybody was yakking about how agree the knicks and nets are supposed to be. now both are a hot mess. both teams have yet to pay dividends. the nets have just five wins, the nicks three. somebody has got to win tonight. we break it down. >> it's just a continued soap opera mess out there. starting with the nets, i knew something was wrong when the season began and jason kidd had to sit two games out because of a d.u.i. the former head coach didn't get the chance to do it, they picked the assistant coach instead. that was kind of confusing. i just kept hearing things that got worse from there, the relationship was bad. you know, probably in lawrence frank's head, he's probably like i can coach these guys better than jason. he was just hanging out with players a couple of months ago. it ended up being a bad mix. you had soda gate, now this. i don't know what's going on with the nets. it might get to the point where he walks away and says it's not worth it. i think he's in over his head and you have to lean on your assistants. i'd keep an eye on him, but certainly there's a lot of pressure on him. >> we haven't given enough to talk about chandler being out. he's certainly a big part of this team, but they shouldn't be this bad, they shouldn't be losing to everybody. they shouldn't be getting drilled. mellow called them a laughing stuck. the nets and nicks, nobody's buying tickets for it. it was supposed to be a grand game on the nba scale, but dolan, the owner of the knicks hates the owner of the nets and if the knicks lose, i wouldn't be surprised if mike woodson couldn't be losing his job soon. >> bragging rights will be between the knicks and nets. >> a number of people trying to reach spain from north africa is forcing authorities to take action. we have the story. >> as soon as the gates open, a rush of people flood back and forth. this tiny spanish city has been important. many will do whatever they can to get here. not long ago, a man who dried to climb the fence died. the spanish authorities decided to reinforce part of the fence with razor wire. those that do get through often find themselves living in limbo in the city's detention center facing deportation. one family traveled from the syrian city of holmes. abraham from guinea scaled the fence hoping to find a better life. >> here we have the hope of getting through. we know that everybody couple of weeks there are people that get in. that if we arrive, we can work a little bit, even if we don't earn much, we earn enough to support ourselves. >> the move to fortify the area has been criticized some rights groups. >> we don't agree with the razor fences. we don't they it's an adequate solution. it's going to make summer situation more desperate. it's not going to stop people coming in, because they're looking for a more dill any offed life. >> the geographic location means it has always been a gateway, but it's simply unable to cope with the surge of illegal migrants. >> the european union has got to get more involved. i think they should do more. >> for many here, the long journey will only end in disappointment, with the gulf between here and mainland spain never feeling wider. >> dozens have died in recent months trying to make the crossing from north africa to the northern island. >> looking to get through airport security at a quicker pace. >> a new plan for travelers is in place to do just that. >> making flier just a bit easier. >> a community divided, a controversial new plan could shift the racial makeup of one city. >> and now, a techknow minute..ñ >> good morning, welcome back to aljazeera america. >> coming up in just a moment, one u.s. community could be divided into two if a plan that would create a new city gets the green light from voters. the plan is bringing up issues of race and class. >> first, let's get a look at the precipitation across the u.s. today. nicole mitchell is back. nicole. >> we've had stuff in the northern plains, but with the snow we already have and winds whipping around, still very treacherous on the roads. i want to focus on the pink colors at the bottom of your screen, tulsa and around the region starting to see precipitation. we have an ice storm warning tennessee into north texas. a warning means things are pretty much imminent. through the rest of the day into friday, very slick roads, possible power outages. >> security lines at the nation's airports may get a little easier for some. starting today, you'll be able to apply for the t.s.a.'s precheck program. you can register for the program on line or at major airports. if you qualify, you'll get to keep your shoes on and your bets. when you go through security, you'll no longer need to pull out your laptop. the program requires a background check and $30 fee. >> >> a plan to create a new city in louisiana brings up questions and class. residents would be mostly white and affluent. voters will decide if they can go forward you with the plan. what the proposal could mean to the people who live there. >> jeffery lee doesn't miss a moment with his grandchildren on the north end of baton rouge. >> i try to enjoy them while i can. >> although they're not in school yet, he knows education will be the key to a better life. >> i want them to go to school and learn as much as they can. >> that's a challenge in a city where 60% of the public school children around learning at agreed level. >> this is one of the worst school systems in the state. how many more children do you have to disserve before you say let's try something different. >> a group is pushing for a different plan for better schools by breaking away from east baton rouge and starting a new city. the city would claim a quarter of the parrish residents, making it the fifth largest in the state. it would control and run its own schools with its own tax revenue. >> this is just about education. >> it's 100% totally about education. we didn't come in saying we want to create the fifth largest city in the state of louisiana. we want to take accountabilities for the schools. >> critics say st. george would take more than accountability. a report warps that the break up could cost the city at large $53 million, 20% of its budget and further segregate the city. baton rouge is a majority black, st. george would be major city white at a 3-1 ratio. >> now we would have white kids going to school over here on this end of the parrish, white kids going to school on the other end of the parrish and in the middle, you would just have the black kids going to school. >> there's a major income disparity. residents make an average of $58,000 a year. residents in the much more off a fluent st. george area make 90,000. >> we have to look at does that take us backwards where we're segregating ourselves again. i don't see it as a win. >> it's not a new trend. both the white and black middle class have been fleeing for decades. those looking to break away say it's not about race, it's education. >> this has nothing to do with skin color. it's a middle class flight. if you've got the means to leave this school system, you've left. >> for those who may not be able to leave, like jeffery lee, it means more division. >> i guess eventually, it's all going to change. you're going to have one side better than the other side. what's going to happen, i guess the lower class, i guess you would say, if everybody is going to move up to a different city, it makes better classes. >> >> baton rouge is not the only city you seeing the moves at secession. it's been tried in several other cities. >> >> identical. i lets were born on november 22. doctors say it's at least a one in a million event. the parents say they are working on ways to tell which child is which. they've got their hands full. >> at the end of our second hour, we have a look at what we're following this morning. >> fast food workers in 100 cities are expected to strike today. they want a raise from what they call their poverty level wage to say $15 an hour. >> a major storm system is bringing freezing temperatures from the rackies to the plains. >> stolen information has been posted on line, including confidential information from several websites. >> stay with us. >> from our headquarters in new york, here are the headlines this hour. >> al jazeera america is the only news channel that brings you live news at the top of every hour. >> a deal in the senate may be at hand and just in the nick of time. >> thousands of new yorkers are marching in solidarity. >> we're following multiple developments on syria at this hour. >> every hour from reporters stationed around the world and across the country. >> only on al jazeera america. determining using some sort of subjective interpretation of their policy as to whether or not your particular report was actually abusive, because if it doesn't contain language that specifically threatens you directly or is targeted towards you specifically, they may not consider it abuse. they may consider it offensive. and in that case they just recommend that you block that person. >> i don't want to minimise this, because i mean, there's some really horrible things that are on line, and it's not - it's not just twitter, what has happened through social media and the anonymity of the net is that you see websites, hate-filled websites targetting all sorts of groups, popping up. there has been a huge number of those that exist as well. >> fault lines investigates... fracking >> shale gas development could actually double the economic growth rates in the province. >> this is our land for thousands of years... >> do you drink money? you must have a lot of money to drink... >> as tensions rise, and protests turn violent, where will the debate lead? >> the situation was no longer peaceful or safe... >> they were bashing my head with their boots... they had their guns on me and everything.... >> how much more real can this get? >> fault lines only on al jazeera america >> a major slowdown at fast food restaurants. workers are hitting the picket lines demanding higher wages. >> we're going to hit! we're going to hit! oh! >> a massive storm is assaulting the nation's midsection. below zero temperatures, heavy snow and thick ice are threatening people and power supplies. >> republicans and democrats in congress are hammering out a new budget deal. will it happen quickly enough to head off yet another government shutdown? it's being called the forgotten crisis. the u.s. is taking a stand in the violence against the central african republic. >> good morning. welcome to aljazeera america. i've stephanie sy. minimum wage workers across the country are taking tole streets today calling for higher wages. one day after the president spoke out about the problem of income inequality, president obama calls the growing gap between the nation's rich and poor a threat to the american dream and the defining challenge of our time. >> the combined tremendous of increased jump equality and decreasing mobility pose a fundamental threat to the american dream, our way of life and what we stand for around the globe. >> thousands of fast food workers are expected to hit the picket lines today, demandinging an increase from poverty level wages to $15 an hour. >> these workers live in complete poverty, working for the richest corporations independent country. >> a wage increase to $15 an hour for workers is a subject that hit home wednesday. we have the story. >> here, it is the season to shop, the mad dash for bar against that gun. with this backdrop, president obama is trying to show what people got paid. usually the federal minimum wage, $7.25 an hour. >> there are airport workers and fast food workers and nurse assistants and retail sales people who work their tails off, and are still living at or barely above poverty. >> many of the three and a half million americans who make that or less have started taking to the streets, sales clerks, restaurant workers, protesting in growing numbers for what they say is a living wage. working full time at minimum wage means they make just over $15,000 a year. that is below the federal poverty level for a single parent with one child, which means they usually can't afford the basics, like enough food. the president's argument, that's unamerican. >> statistics show we rate near jamaica and argentina, it is harder today for a a child born here in america to improve her station in life than it is for children in most of our wealthy allies, canada, germany or france. they have greater mobility than we do, not less. >> one way out of that, he says, raise the minimum wage, an idea he floated in a speech last february, but has talked little about since, leaving some economists to question his sincerity. >> he makes these sorts of statements about his commitments, beliefs and hopes but when it comes to the actual governing, we are at the same minimum wage we have been at for years. >> these workers haven't seen an increase since 2009. getting that to change may depend on how many of them raise their voices now, not on how many times the president does. let's go to jonathan martin, covering today's protest in new york. last year, 200 fast food workers held a one day strike at more than 20 restaurants here. are we expecting something like that today. >> it really remains to be seen just how significant, how large this protest will be. this all started and it has grown from a year ago with just a few fast food workers walking out in new york. this restaurant is open for business, people going in and out. a year ago in august, there were 500 people who protested outside of this mcdonald's. not all of them were fast food workers. we could see that today. organizers say it has grown bigger, expanding to 100 cities, smaller cities, so they feel like their movement has certainly grown. this latest wave of protests or planned protests started yesterday here in new york and about five other cities with one particular group, moveon.org delivering petitions in some five cities. >> you can work full time here and not support yourself, much less a family. here we are with the people who shut down the government talking about people being lays and they cut food stamps, and here are people working full time, working overtime, not being given wages that they can live on. when everybody has decent wages, i think the whole economy goes better. i think it has just gone down the tubes, because of the 1% who want to make the most out of the misery of others. >> again at this point, no one really showing up at this point. we're here outside the wendys and mcdonald's here. we could see change later. there are some critics so these planned protests, including the national restaurant association pointing out that most of the participating people are not actual fast food workers, they are p.r. groups and unions who are a part of this cause. >> we'll continue to check back in with you. jonathan martin in new york, thank you. >> three of ukraine's former presidents express solidarity with anti-government protestors. among those leaderrers, the president who came to power after the orange revolution in 2004, the statement gave a nod to thousands of protesting citizens. they also condemn the force against the demonstrators. demonstrators are still occupying a centrally square in key every and blocking entrance to several government buildings. it happens as diplomats arrive. >> in thigh land, protestors who want the i'm minister to resign stopped the demonstration out of respect for the king's birthday. the movement leaders say they will be back on the streets afterwards. the king urged people to support each other for the sake of the country. protests turned violent last weekend. at least four people died. >> temperatures are plunging across the country and the blast of arctic air is bringing snow and causing ice storms. the snow is three feet deep in minnesota. in rask, wind chills are 20 below. it's a lot different on the east coast, where it's warmer than usual. nicole mitchell is tracking the winter storm right now. what's the latest? >> there is so much going on with this system that we've been dealing with, all the different elements. it's really something that has been impacting us from coast-to-coast, places like the midwest. this is a brutal multi-facetted storm system with impacts that have reached across the country. >> that unmistakable sound, a bone chilling wind that has plunged temperatures by 20 the degrees to oh 30 degrees in half the country in just 24 hours, bringing snow, ice and sub zero temperatures, impacting 33 million americans. >> it's terrible. it's terrible. >> watch this time laps as the thermometer in denver drops from 54 to 10 in just 14 hours. it's some of the oldest weather parts of the united states have seen in decades, making an impact with the deep freeze, causing slick roads across america's highways. from roads littered with spin outs to salt lake to whiteout conditions in nevada, it is a brutal storm. across the west, some temperatures could plummet up to 40 degrees below normal. it's not just the biting record cold. around duluth, two feet of snow left drivers stranded, many shoveling around their tires just to keep moving. >> wicked action, i've never seen it like this before. >> other parts of the country are experiencing december weather of a different kind, including new york, where temperatures could top sick degrees today, about 15 degrees higher than normal. back in california, the deep freeze is threatening its citrus crop. >> they'll go bitter on you fairly fast if they're frozen hard. >> 85% of the fruit in this multi-billion dollars industry still unplucked as workers race against time. they could lose its all in an overnight freeze. >> worse case scenario will lose about $2 billion worth of product, we'll have unemployment totals 15,000 people. >> a winter blast with far-reaching consequences. >> so a little bit of everyone feeling it across the country. let's get to some of the worst spots. still in the midwest with the snow, even though the snow has moved out, high winds blowing the snow and wind chill, that causing problems. the southern end of this now where we are seeing pitchings. we are getting reports of that freezing rain. that's why we had the problems in the midwest. heading south, this is an area of freezing rain tennessee to north texas could get under that, especially arkansas in the middle of the heaviest stuff. this evening, some accumulations of ice could be over a half inch, bringing down free branches, power lines in addition to the skating rink that will be on the roads. this is kind of what that looks like. you can see the ripple effect of the problem. here's the area that could be under the impacts of ice. even into texas, maybe dallas, i would say definitely little rock we could be having problems tomorrow morning as we get on to the roads. there is the cold side. we were talking a little bit ago, overnight tonight into even california, temperatures remaining below freezing long enough could possibly damage some of that agriculture. there is spreading well toward the south. there is a sliver of a warm corridor. that will be going away for a lot of places over the course of the weekend. these temperatures now are sub zero and a lot of wind chills not just today, already some 20 and third below zero, but as we get into friday and saturday morning, some of these going 30 and 40 below zero and we stick with the winds and temperatures drop. i'll have more in just a minute. >> congressional negotiators have a little over a week to strike a budget deal. house republican paul ryan and senate democrats are working on a plan. if they can get it done, it could help the government avoid a shut down for the next few years. we have more from washington. >> i'm glad to be here. >> the 29 members of congress who sit on the budget conference committee have nine more days to come up with a fiscal plan they can sell to their colleagues. december 13 is the last day both the house and senate are scheduled to be in session this year. that's d-day for the budget conference. don't expect to it accomplish major savings and reform. >> i don't expect a grand bargain. i don't expect a medium bargain. that i expect a mini bargain. >> both sides want to avoid a looming deadline january 15, which is when a government shut down would be triggered unless congress reaches a deal. many hope to face the spending cuts known as sequestration. >> the sequester was designed to be the worst of all possible fiscal policies, so oh unacceptable that both political parties would run away from it and come to some better agreement. >> congress couldn't agree and the cuts kicked in. another round hits in january. representative jim moran blames a dysfunctional congress for the cuts, which hurt his northern virginia district. he's on the sidelines of the budget process, which he finds a frustrating place to be. >> my expectation would be that they would wait to the very last minute, december 15 and dump a bill on us with no time to even read it, let alone deal with it constructively. >> the two most important people at the table are congressman paul ryan and democratic senator patty murray of washington state. >> we're going to find the common ground between our two budget that is we both can vote on and that's our goal. >> no steps forward would mean no relief with quester cuts and more on the way and senate republic leaders don't sound concerned. >> i think it's a bad idea to revisit a law that is actually working, and reducing spending for the government. >> not all republicans are at peace with it. congressman al rogers chairs the appropriations committee and says the current cuts and the next round are gruesome. >> a $20 billion cut to the military, above and beyond what they've already sustained. that would be very, very significant. >> we could fix the budget situation within hours, but the leadership doesn't want that done. they don't want to make deals. >> it requires congress working together, which members say would be progress. >> secretary of state john kerry arrived in jerusalem this morning. on the table, mideast relations and the easing of sakes on iran. kerry said the bond between the u.s. and israeli is unbreakable. >> the bond between the united states and israel is unbreakable. while occasionally we might have a difference of a tactical measure, we do not have a difference about the fundamental strategy that we both seek with respect to the security of israel and the long term peace of that region. >> kerry will meet with the palestinian president. after stops this week in china and japan, vice president biden will meet with the south korean president and deliver a major speech about america's asia policy. biden will lay wreath at a ceremony honoring fallen u.s. troops and representative the demilitarized zone between south korea and north korea. biden wrapped up his visit to china with no solution to a squabble over air security. china is not backing down from its claims to the zone, covering disputed islands also claimed by japan. the u.s. has flown military aircraft into the zone without notifying china. biden said both have a stake in international security. >> we're trying to build a new kind of relationship between major powers, one that's different, defined by constructive cooperation, healthy competition and a shared respect for an agreed upon new set of rules for the road and international norms. >> he said an agreement is vital. >> thrust into the global spotlight, what the u.n. is doing to address the violence in the central african republic. >> the train that crashed this week had a safety feature. why it didn't do what it was supposed to. >> american doctors on the front line of a bird flu scare half a world away. >> taking a live look now at st. louis, where it's 29 dress and they are expecting a light snow today. power of the people until we restore >> pope francis said dealing with sex abuse is invitessal for the church's credibility. good morning, welcome back. just ahead, the crisis in the central african republic has been flying under the radar. the u.n. is looking to stabilize the nation. first, let's look at what temperatures we'll see across the nation today. nicole. >> we'll start out where it's tang russ. wind chills of places 20 below zero, far go, bismarck, it only takes moments to get frostbite and hypothermia. this is dangerous weather. the cold air has spread south wards. we had the one cliff of warm air. the rest of the country has felt the cold impact. behind the teens and even that negative into northern plains as we get into friday. just a couple of warm spots, the rest of it really quite brutal. >> there are reports of heavy gunfire across the central african capital. violence erupted near the presidential palace in the capitol city. there has been growing instability since rebels ousted the president in march, the latest in a series of coups since the country gained independence. we report on the latest violence from the capital city. >> we've heard sustained gunfire and mortar rounds pretty close where we are in this hotel right now. the city is deserted, people staying inside their homes, it's probably the worst fighting since rebels came into the capitol taking control of the country in march of this year. we understand this is from the french military that the people behind this attack, known as antibalica started off as a protection source. we don't know whether they have actually grown in size, whether they do have a lot of heavy weaponry at the moment. the african forces which are here and present have been deployed to different parts of the city. there are only a few hundred forces mainly to protect the french citizens. this all comes as we're waiting for a u.n. secure council to vote in a second resolution to send in not only more french troops, but also african forces. at the moment, there are practically no one here to protect civilians. >> reporting from the central african republic capital. the salica is the name of the former rebel group, in power since march of this year, they are from chat and sued dan. the group is responsible for many killings since last year. the newer group is increasingly involved in acts of violence against the region's muslim community. then will are the international peacekeepers, including troops from chad, the congo and other neighboring regions. there are also french troops, about 600 of them in the region right now. we are joined now from the united nations. what is the focus of the security council meeting today? >> they'll vote on a new resolution on the central african republic. this is a draw that will go before them in 1:40. they've about that criticized for inaction over the last year. there is some criticism of this draft. in many ways, it's a compromise draft. the security council in a wider sense would like an african solution to an african problem. that's why they're going to authorized 3,500 african troops to go to the central african republic. they're going to authorize the security council. the france is allowed to oh spend up to 1,000 troops by the end of the year. i think it's worth bearing in mind that the u.n. secretary general came up with a series of options. one of his options was for a full body's adjustment force. the blue helmets of the u.n. peace keeping mission to take over. it's worth comparing that option to what's being offered. bang key moon said if he had to do the job, he would need 6,000 peacekeepers in what he called a less per missive atmosphere, 9,000. compared the 9,000 the u.n. would needle to the ones that are going to get authorized in over an hour's time. >> it's questionable whether half measures will work in a situation like this. meanwhile, the french foreign minister said the central african republic is on the verge of genocide. >> they have to do something, but the question mask is whether what they're doing is enough to solve the problem, and certainly some human rights groups would like to see a fuel u.n. force there. some diplomats will say we need to have the africans there now to prepare for a u.n. force, because putting all those u.n. troops on the ground in c.a.r. takes time. it takes time to deploy such a large force. >> we'll continue to follow it here. thank you. >> here is what is making news in the financial markets this morning. an encouraging sign for jobs. employers announced fewer layoffs last month. job cuts are down more than 2% for the year so far. the retail sector is seeing the most job losses. the labor department will release data on new unemployment claims. last week saw a big decline. just minutes from now, the government will issue an update of the third quarter gross domestic product. economists expect it to be revised up. wall street may be ready to get back in a buying mood. stock futures turned positive this hour, do you futures up nine points. the dow jones industrial average starts the day at 15,889. the nasdaq still managing to stay above the key level. markets in asia fell across the board. >> college students are getting deeper in dead. the new study found the average owed in students loan is up 10% from 2011. the researchers say seven out of 10 college seen years graduate with some student loan debt. >> from the cook line to the picket line. why fast food workers nationwide are going on strike today. we'll talk to a labor expert about what they want and the likelihood that they'll get it. find out why the murder of a top hezbollah leader in lebanon could have a serious ripple effect. mexican authorities discover a stolen truck filled with radioactive materials. why they think someone may have been exposed. want to see whats going to happen. >> get your damn education. >> talk to al jazeera. only on al jazeera america. >> oh my! 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(vo) and follow it no matter where it leads, all the way to you. al jazeera america. take a new look at news. >> welcome back to aljazeera america. i'm stephanie sy. thousands of fast food workers scheduled to start shifts this morning will be picketing instead. strikes are planned today at fast food shops in about 100 cities, the demand higher pay. 70% of fast food workers are over the age of 20 and more than a third are raising children on minimum wage. we have the story of a mother of three in washington state raising her family on $9.31 an hour. >> it's 2:00 and her five hour shift at k.f.c. is over. she's off to pick up her youngest son from day care before heading home. with no time to take off her uniform, she heads to the cusp to make a snack and help her two older children with homework. >> they look to me. they don't have no one else to look to. >> for the last five years, the 35-year-old single mother of three has been making $9.31 an hour, just under $17,000 a year. >> i'm the definition of the working poor, as they say. >> her job helps, but doesn't cover the cost supporting a family of four. at 35 hours a week, she's barely able to cover the costs of living expenses. >> i receive food stamp benefits. i receive subs died day care, subsidized housing and my son is on w.i.c. >> maya's main concern is providing stability for her children. >> i'm just focusing on taking care of them, making them happy, and make sure they get the education so that they don't have to work a fast food restaurant at $9.31. >> she is grateful for the job she has. >> i've been working nights and weekends, because christmas time is coming up. >> one day she plans to return to college and change careers. she says a bump in pay would help make that happen. aljazeera, washington. >> the movement began at a single mcdonald's location in new york city. joining us to discuss is mr. dine in washington, d.c. even if the workers don't end up getting $15 an hour, doubling their salaries, would you expect to get something out of a raise? >> i think that $15 an hour is not reasonable or feasible to happen. it's reasonable as a wage, but not likely to happen. they're really trying to start a public discussion, raise political awareness of the fact that in a $200 billion industry there are folks working full time in poverty. >> part that have discussion is how much wage increase is up a $15 an hour would affect prices like ham burgers and chicken nuggets with experts saying a 10% to 15% increase. what's your opinion on that? >> it clearly would increase somewhat the cost of the food they serve. i don't think it would be as much as some people say, according to what you justify said, but at the same time, companies do better when there's a stable workforce, a more qualified workforce, a happier workforce, a more productive workforce. yeah, in one sense, if you do a static analysis, it increases prices. over time, i think the companies themselves would benefit. that's one of the things i think is incumbent upon the unions doing this. they need to raise the issue of fairness to the public. they also need to show that this wouldn't really hurt the companies. in fact, it's in the company's best interest. finally, they need to show it's in the public's interest, because right now, more than half of these fast food workers are on public assistance, even though they're working full time, causing taxpayers $7 billion a year. they need to show all those facets. >> what about the argument that this movement in some ways may hurt the workers' cause especially if it leads to restaurants laying off workerrors replace i can them with automated machines? >> if they are asking for $100,000 a year, maybe. i don't think getting a few dollars an hour morgan in a highly profittal sect tore of the economy is going to lead to restaurants closing. how you do the other victory's we've seen race the minimum wage for workers oh $15 no how is that fueling the calls for fast food workers to get paid more? >> it's all part of the mix. there's talk about living wages, minimum wages, sometimes they pass, sometimes they fail. i don't think that's really the solution for one jurisdiction to raise minimum wage and a nearby district doesn't. it could lead to the issues you said, companies are better off a mile away. maybe move their operation to the lower paying place. they're all trying to race the issue of the fact that in this very withouty country, we have working people that can't afford to buy the products they're making. that doesn't seem reasonable. >> thanks for joining us this morning. >> a pleasure to be with you. >> the statistics about america's income gap are telling. from 2009 to 2012, the average income of the top 1% increased 31%. in the same period, income for the rest of the nation's workers rose by one half of 1%. >> in detroit, the search is on for assets. some creditors say its world class art should be sold so they can be paid. some warn the pieces by world renowned artists may not be enough. >> the creditors must be disappointed to find that the value's assets are as low as they are. i think there were hopes that the figure would be much higher. >> detroit has about 3,000 pieces of art. so far, they are estimated at 450 to $870 million, but detroit's debt is $18 billion. >> pensions of city workers could be slashed to pay detroit's debts and chicago is facing a similar crisis. the city is saddled with a $9 billion pension plan. under state law, the city must boost its contribution in 2015 by $590 million, increasing the money for future and current retirees to nearly $1.5 billion. in an email wednesday, mayor rahm emanuel said relief needs to come soon. >> a series of attacks in yemen left many dead. the defense ministry was targeted. a suicide car bomber rammed the gate on one side of the building while gunman on foot opened fire on the other side. the explosion damaged a hospital in the complex. there's been no claim of responsibility. yemen is home to one of al-qaeda's most active branches. the country under an interim government since the ouster of the president two years ago. >> the killing of a senior hezbollah commander is a latest in the series of attacks. hezbollah blames israel for the assassination, israel denies. we have more on the leader and what his death means to the region. >> in the driving rain, hezbollah prepared to put to rest one of its most senior military commanders. a funeral in the city where he grew up. in life, little was known publicly about him. in death, some background's emerging. he had been a key figure in operations against israel. his place dates back to the 1980's. he's thought to have played a big part in the 2006 war against israel. one of his sons was a fighter who died in an air strike. >> his fate was to die from gunshots outside one of his homes. this one in south beirut. hezbollah blamed israeli. israeli denied involvement, saying as always such accusations were a reflection from hezbollah. whether this is part of an escalating campaign for hezbollah for its involvement in the war of syria. >> there was a twitter claim after the bombing outside the iranian embassy from a known al-qaeda linked group. it's thought there could be more targeting of hezbollah here in lebanon. >> the tough question, is it going to stop here or this is the beginning of a major assassination against the leadership or the military wing of hezbollah. that's probably the hardest question, and how hezbollah will prevent that from happening. >> lebanon's insecurity can only increase in the aftermath of this killing. hezbollah has threatened a response. andrew simmons, aljazeera, beirut. >> this assassination raises a lot of questions in the troubled region that has been plagued with sectarian war. other groups are seizing it is opportunity to further destabilize the middle east. joining us now is former assistant secretary of state. good morning to you. there seems no doubt that the sectarian violence in syria has spilled over to lebanon because hezbollah is supporting the bashar al assad regime. could we see another civil war in lebanon. >> we certainly could. the recent outbreak of violence, assassination attempts against hezbollah. beirut is in the middle of a very tough area with a number of mixed areas between the different sects, and as you said earlier, we're starting to see not only the spillover from syria, but this greater gain, this larger game of the persian-arab conflict in the region. >> not only lebanon, but sectarian violence seeming to be on the upswing in iraq and it appears yemen, as well. >> sure, absolutely. this is all part of this greater gain, where persian iran, the revolutionary iran is trying to assert over the region. the june knee led arab countries, saudi arabia and u.a. are fighting back. they're doing it through proxies, such as hezbollah. in the occasion of the persians, the eye raines and sunni extremists as we're seeing in syria and lebanon supported by countries such as sawed eight i can't. they're having this fight, a proxy fight in sir you are i can't, lebanon and parts of iraq. >> you bring up iran, sir. some foreign policy analysts make the case that because of iran's importance in this proxy conflict as you describe it, the u.s. should perhaps further in gauge iran as an ally in that region. >> one argument says that's exactly right, we ought to have the united states and the global super powers attempt to mad rate the actions of iran. the other side of the argument says iran since 1979, sings the iranian revolution is a revolutionary government has not deterred and will continue to export violence and terrorism in the only in the region, but in places such as south america, as well. one can only hope the united states can moderate their behavior, but that's going to take an act of diplomacy that i think so far has eluded this government. >> al-qaeda appears to be fighting more battleground in the middle east and a food hold, it seems again, even though the obama administration had talked about how much al-qaeda had been dismantled since the death of bin lad en, do americans need to worry now that al-qaeda does seem to be gaining ground in the middle east? >> i think the americans ought to be very concerned about the increasing capability. while the u.s. government has started to parse their words, saying we only met core al-qaeda in pakistan and afghanistan, the fact is that the franchisees, the smaller groups of al-qaeda represent a clear and present danger not only to the countries and governments in the middle east but also that of the united states. >> general, thank you. >> commuter trains will roll again today on a normal schedule past the reopened stop in the bronx, the scene of sunday's fatal derailment in new york city. the train to derailed featured a system that can warn the engineer of a potential accident and apply the brakes, but the system was not in the front cab where william rockefeller was at the controls. it was installed in the locomotive, which was pushing the train from the back. >> highly radioactive waste has been discovered from a stolen van in mexico. the gunman who took the truck probably made a fatal mistake. the truck was found in a remote area, taking cobalt 60 used in cancer treatments to a waste site. the radioactive container was opened. anyone exposed to it could be in grave danger of dying within days. >> ross shimabuku is here with sports. >> right now, we're playing the waiting game, but it is judgment day for james winston. the florida state quarterback, the lead ircandidate for the heisman trophy will find out today if he is to be charged with sexual assault. the decision to charge or not charge him for sexual assault, which occurred last determine will be made today at 2:00 p.m. eastern time. he was just named the player of the year yesterday and his teal will be playing in the championship game saturday. the deadline for voting for the heisman is due on monday. today's decision will answer a lot of questions moving forward. in the meantime, winston continues to get the support from his teammates. >> i'm used to it happening with, it's a main thing to myself. the team, these guys around me, i always stress it with, you all probably think oh, he's just saying this, when you got good guys around you, good people around you, it's easy. you can be yourself. you don't have to worry about somebody, he lame or he talk too much. you can by yourself, because you got the same goal. when you got the same goal as a seem, that's how you be successful. >> north carolina is a dr. jekyll mr. hyde team. they've lost to belmont and u.a.b. last night, north carolina would man up against north michigan state. the tar heels jumped out to a 14 point lead. the spartans would rally back. adrien payne feeling it from three-point land. he chipped in with 16 points as michigan state would tie things up at 30 the two. in the second half, the tar heels take control. north carolina up by a six pack. the number one team in the country, 79-65. in the nba, the best team in the western conference, the portland trailblazers. kevin durant and the thunder riding an eight game win streak. they dominated down low. aldridge double dipping grabbed 13 rebounds, drains the money shot, and how about those portland trail bladers going on to oh win 111-104. >> the san antonio spurs and timberwolves were supposed to play south of the border, but 45 minutes before tip off, everybody was told to get out of the believe. a generator caused smoke. the game was postponed to the a later date. the fans were disappointed. last night would have been the first nba regular season contest in mexico city since 1997 when the rockets and mavericks hooped it up. fans very disappointed, but they say they'll get their money back refunded. >> why a serious strain of the bird flu in asia has caught the attention of doctors in the u.s. >> we've seen bitter cold and heavy areas of snow, but now this storm system could be turning into an ice storm. i'll have your details. >> and now a techknow minute...ñ >> looking a the a live picture of the shoreline in germany, where a major storm is moving in, already causing flooding there. welcome back to aljazeera america. health officials are dealing with a bird flu crisis. let's get a look at where the snow and rain may fall across the country. >> it's the same system we've had. parts of texas, north texas in the 30's. where the warm air is in the 70's. when you get that trapped above cold and moisture coming down, that can lend to ice conditions. that's what we're starting to see, that trapped warm layer and then the moisture falling book into the cold hour, freezing rain developing back into no mexico, hitting the ground. we'll look especially this evening overnight and into tomorrow anywhere from tennessee back into north texas and new mexico could be seeing that ice. tomorrow morning could be treacherous and power outages as this weighs down the branches and power lines. >> dementia cases worldwide could triple by 2050 according to new estimates. an increase is projected from 44 million to 135 million over that time span. alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia. there are few effective treatments and no cure. leaders from the world's biggest economies will meet for a special summit on dementia. >> a public health warning in hong kong is now at the serious stage. scientists are trying to find a vaccine for the virus. one solution might be found in nashville. >> china is on high alert. the world health organization says that since man of this year with, there have been a total of 45 deaths from a new strain of bird influenza called h7 and nine. >> close contact with births occasionally results in the in glove instance going from a bird to a person. when that individual is infected, the infection is usually very, very serious. >> hong kong has shut down its live poultry markets and suspended imports of chickens from mainland china. there are fears that the virus could mutate in poultry with the potential for a pandemic. >> they're taking this very, very seriously. one reason they're doing it is this strain of influenza in birds often does not make the births sick, so you captain follow the sick birds. >> here on the campus of vanderbilt university within the front lines of vaccine research for the strawn in china funded by the national institute of health are a team of a dozen doctors and scientists working to find a vaccine to treat people. >> dr. catherine edwards joins that search. >> the chinese were very good about sharing the virus with the w.h.o. and with the c.d.c. so that we could begin to grow the virus. >> in the test trials, they infected 200 people with varied levels of the h.7 and nine strain. that led to a development of a successful vaccine. researchers know that while china is more than 8,000 miles away, a global flu pandemic could be on their doorstep at any time. >> it used to be maybe that if something happened in china, we couldn't see it or see it for a long time, but basically, any of these pandemics are a plane ride away. >> there should be absolutely no fear and what americans should know is that the public health infrastructure that we have in the united states is alert to this, we're all tuned in, we're on top of this and watching it very, very carefully. >> as test trials continue, researchers will be ready to share and release the vaccine should the h.7 and nine influenza begin to spread. >> the latest bird flu patient in hong kong is a 36-year-old woman who fell ill after contacting poultry during a trip to china. more than 2 million stolen passports for popular websites like facebook, twitter, google and yahoo are now public. trust waves spider labs discovered a server that was mining log in's from in if he canned computers. facebook, twitter and linked in are resetting the pass words for anyone affected. the most common password was the simple 123456. that's going to do it to this hour of aljazeera america. thanks for watching. consider this: the news of the day plus so much more. >> we begin with the government shutdown. >> answers to the questions no one else will ask. >> it seems like they can't agree to anything in washington no matter what. >> antonio mora, award winning and hard hitting. >> we've heard you talk about the history of suicide in your family. >> there's no status quo, just the bottom line. >> but, what about buying shares in a professional athlete?

Transcripts For ALJAZAM News 20131207

community where newman was ma wr thanksgiving, but he'll be home for the holidays. when he first made the trip to north korea he could not have imagined how difficult of a trip it would turn out. but now he'll return to the u.s. a great relief for his family. >> i'm very glad to be home. i'm appreciate the government to allow me to be on my way. >> i offered him a ride home but he pointed out there is a direct flight to san francisco, his home. i don't blame him. i would be on that flight, too. >> newman was a soldier in the korean war and his visit was a long-planned vacation down memory lane. but he was no order soldier. the north koreans released this confession, likely forced by newman, admitting his afill ways with the white tigers. for newman the war is history. but for north koreans, newman was an enemy of the state. the two countries never signed a peace treaty, and tec technicaly still at war and his release would need the permission of kim jong-un. >> we ask you give him time to be with his family. we askl be moments before he's reunited with family and back at home. >> i'm sure it will be a scene once he arrived there. let's talk about the timing of his release, the timing happening all while vice president biden was in the region. although he said, i had no direct connection to this happening. give us a background, context for this. is a coincidence? >> well, it appears to be a very strong coincidence. you can imagine with vice president biden in agency, he might be involved in the negotiations in the release of merrill newman. but he said he was not involved in the negotiations. he was in south korea. china is viewed as the country with the largest potential to influence north korea. it is north korea's closest ally but it is for assistance on the case concerning merrill newman. >> tell us more about why the north koreans would have number of american soldiers who fought in the korean war have gone back to north korea and have not created an incident in which the north koreans felt they should detain these soldiers. but merrill newman was not an ordinary soldier. he was guerrilla fighters. >> he's on his way home and we anticipate he'll be home very shortly. assuring chuck hagel that the security agreement will be signed in a timely fashion. hagel apprised early this morning, but afghan president threw a wrench into negotiations after saying he would not sign the agreement until after that country's elections in sprin spring 2014. two days after nelson mandela's death vigils and memorials continue to grow. tomorrow the country begins an official week of mourning of their late president. sir, throughout the night from their perspective. every time i've spoken to you over the past few years the crowds get louder. they get morse more celebrateor. >> yes, you can hear how many people are chanting, praise for the father of this nation. how he transformed the country and gave so many people, both black south africans and white south africans the opportunity to come through the modern world. there is really happiness. it's hard to describe it any other way. there is chanting. people are singing. there giving thanks. >> i would imagine there is pride. the funeral is more than a week away, nick. do we anticipate this type of energy and this type of crowds over the next several days as it transitions into an official time of mourning? >> reporter: i think i would.. they have no intention of going away. they have no intention of not celebrating this man's life, not thanking him for everything that he has done. this man, a patient man, they say thank you. and the funeral will be in southeast south africa where he was born. >> nick, thank you so much. the lasting legacy that nelson mandela leaves behind is raising the awarenes awareness of the h. a.i.d.s. crisis in south africa. we're joined live villa skype from cape town. thank you for joining us. let's talk about nelson mandela as it pertains h.i.v. a.i.d.s. he was not immediately on the forefront of this issue. >> well, initially, in 1994 there were clear indications of serious dedication to begin to address the very really challenges that the a.i.d.s. pandemic presented. however, he was also suspect to all kinds of social norms that precluded the discussion of h.i.v. on a public platform. during his political tenure president mandela discussed the platform rather than the h.i.v. a.i.d.s. he grappled with having to speak about h.i.v. and grappled with the severe stigma that surrounded the disease as a sexually transmitted from the gay-plague in the united states. there were social norms, who could speak about it in south africa, and mandela was effected by those norms as anybody else would be. he would take stock of the incredible things he said during his very real social norms about secrecy, stigma, regarding who can speak about what in the public sphere. >> talk to me about how significant it was. to lose his son to a.i.d.s. but then he publicly spoke about it. how significant was that? >> it was one of the most significant stands ever taken in south africa to start to confront the very real issue of h.i.v. stigma. he came out to say that his son had died of a.i.d.s. he began the action campaign and h.i.v. movement of activists to access treatment. it was a very significant statement against the silence of people coming out and living openly with h.i.v. and talking about the platform. he came out and talked about those issues. he talked about his own and ourn experiences. but it took him quite awhile to do that. wasn't until many started to die from a.i.d.s. >> his public struggle is the same struggle that people suffered privately as well. thank you. >> thank you. >> when we come back, a deadly virus, an uphill battle to find a vaccine for it. every sunday night al jazeera america presents gripping films from the world's top documentary directors. an act of terror then a rush to justice for pan am flight 103. >> the eyes of the world will be on us. >> an investigation under scrutiny. >> it looks nothing like him. somebody's telling lies. >> this was a miscarriage of justice. >> did they get the wrong man? >> there's something else going on. >> a shocking documentary event begins with: the pan am bomber on al jazeera america presents. >> in syria where people are being forced out of their country in droves, fighting threatens their safety, so does the lack of food. we have reports from the jordan-syria border. >> reporter: trickling down on foot from no man's land to jordanian territory. they've walked several kilometers in the cold and rain to get this far. eight-year-old from outside damascus arrived with her mentally challenged son. she said hunger and starvation brought her here. >> food supplies have been cut off. mills and bakeries have been destroyed. there is nothing to drink. if people see bread, they bid on the leaves like at an auction. the refugees arrive with nothing but their identification documents and the coats on their backs. they have just experienced the longest and most dangerous journey to safety. >> they were turned away at the border because they did not have all their documents. now they do, and they're ready to move. >> i'm sure that it's better than living under airstrikes. we lost a lot of family members in syria. any life here is better thansiving in syria. >> reporter: syrians used to cross through jordan, but recent fighting has prevented thousands of crossing through. the safer but longer route is to across near iraq. this is why arrivals have dropped from thousand toss hundreds during the month. it has been turning people away but they insist their borders are open. >> why have the the numbers dropped? i believe it's the situation of syria and not the jordanian border. >> as you can see this is a difficult location and people will find this is an easier place to come through. >> it will take up to four days for the refugees to get jeaned, registered, and their longer journey is one yet to start. and that's the search for dignity in exile. >> the ukraine are back on the streets after reports of the country's president and russian president vladimir putin. thdemonstrations began three wes ago when the ukrainian president backed out of a deal with the e.u. the i.a.e.a. teams have arrived in tehran. rouhani defended the deal for reduced economic sanctions. he describe the pursuit nuclear technology was, quote a definite and feels that iran has the right to live without sanctions. >> china is on high alert. the "world health organization" says since march of this year there has been a search for the bird flu in hong kong. >> when there is an infection. the infection is very serious. >> that's why hong kong has shut down it's poultry markets. while will is no evidence that the h 7 n 9 strain spreads from human to human. there are fears that i there isa potential for a pan democrat. >> okay. they're taking this very seriously. this strain of influenza of birds often does not make the birds sick. you can't follow the sick. >> i see the front lines of vaccine research for the strain over in china funded by the national institute of health there is a team of a dozen doctors and scientists working to find a real vaccine to treat people around the world. >> dr. katherine edwards joined that search. >> the chinese were very good about sharing the virus with the with who and with the cdc so we could begin to grow the virus. >> reporter: they infected 200 people with the varying levels. that led to the development of a successful vaccine. while china is 800 miles away, a global flu pandemic could be on their door step at any time. >> it used to be that if something happened in china we wouldn't see it for a long time. but basically any of these pandemics are a plane ride away. >> interest should be no fear. what americans should know is that the public health infrastructure that we have in the united states is alert to this. we're all tuned in. we're on top of this and watching it very carefully. >> as test trials get ready to begin, they should be able to ry should the strain begin to spread. a remarkable breakthrough in the treatment of cancer. >> just a miracle... >> people who had no hope now tell their extraordinary stories. >> i thought i was gonna die... on america tonight on al jazeera america power of the people until we restore our fr >> welcome back to al jazeera america. i'm richelle carey. let's take a look the today's headlines. the memorials and vigils for nelson mandela continue to grow. 85-year-old merrill newman, army veteran, reportedly is back in the u.s. the plane he was due to be on from bane evening is expected no san francisco a while ago. he was detained in north korea. chuck hagel was assured that a pact with iran would be signed in the near future. major league soccer is adding fans in teens. we take a look at the sports league with a different kind of business model. >> james from salt lake city and kansas city prepare for the mls cup. and in this league the match was a family battle. the entire league is a single business entity. >> we created the structure that allows us at a very high level to think of things that will help the game grow, and to try to avoid. >> it handles tale teams and it proves that it's working. >> i don't think you can find another soccer team in the world that can say the same thing. i believe we have one of the most competitive soccer leagues in the world. >> they're disciplined and organized and careful about how they spend money. the major league soccer has a salary cap of $3 million. >> it can't touch the pay of the three big sports. the nfl salary cap is $123 million. pro basketball, $59 million. that's per team. the entire mls league wide payroll, $89 million according to the league office with each team allowed to over pay key players. >> the reality is that money talks. and players are, you know, are working towards their livelihood. they have limited careers they want to make as much money as possible and no one can fault them for that. >> the head of the mls players union said that they need to work with the league to play but next year when the contract is up they'll be negotiating hard for significantly better pay. if revenues continue to grow as expected. >> reporter: another challenge for mls, negotiating a better broadcasting deal which is currently in the works. and making the onscreen product more attractive. >> tv ratings locally and nationally have not been good. >> if america continues to warm to the game, they have major goals for mls. ♪ >> meteorologist: it was a much cooler day across much of the country. check out the temperatures in minneapolis. only 2 degrees for the day high. across the east coast it's much cooler. but the rain, snow and ice has departed. oh now cold air is rushing into the northeast, really setting us up for the next system that will publish through. right now across the southwest it's pushing across the valley and push to the east as it brings a little bit of rain to los angeles. this rain will continue to push into the southern portions of southern california. by tomorrow conditions improve, but be careful across i-5. we're going to see the snow across oklahoma city, down in dallas before it pushes to the east and then a mix of portions of the east coast. if you're traveling along i-81 wall the way into roanoke, we're looking for a mixture of snow, rain and ice. i think it's even going to push into new york city. we can see one to two inches of snow even in our nation's capitol. we want to be careful again if we're traveling. yet it was 62 degrees in new york city, but the cold air is definitely going to take over. a knew lingering showers, but generally it will be a quiet day. back to the bitter cold across, minneapolis 2 degrees and minus 5 in fargo. >> thank you for watching al jazeera america. i'm richelle carey. the stream is next, and

Transcripts For ALJAZAM News 20131208

if you can hold off it will probably be a better bet if you can do that. here is a look at the timing. lots of cold air in place. on 4 o'clock that's when we'll see the snow in new york city. it looks like we may not see much, but we are finally seeing the snow come down past new york, and then we'll get a mix of the warmer air surge from the south and the wintry weather will change to rain, so the monday morning commute will be a bit nasty. >> breaking news out of iraq where 16 are dead after a series of bombings across baghdad. it occurred in are predominantly shiite muslim district. violence in iraq has reached levels not seen in years. >> south korea raised the stakes expand its air defense zone. it follows a move by china. the south ean and chinese areas overlap. japan says they'll talk with their neighbours about access. >> it's a direct response to china's extension of its air zone. that extension overlaps seen's air defense zone and pertinently japan's one. china and japan over the island. that's an area includeing a reef. there is a south korean scientific research station built on that, it has a helipad on it and is under de facto south korean control. because of an accident in history when the americans drew the air defense zone, it didn't include that area or two other south korean islands which are not under dispute. this is an opportunity for south korea to right what many are surprised to see was the current situation and extend its own zone further south, allowing an ease of the military operation. the seen government making it clear that it is doing things in a different way to beijing, saying it consulting with its neighbours and with the u.s. >> the french president issued a veiled warning to the pvt central african republic. francis hollande said it will be tough to keep things in place. france is dispatching more than 1,000 troops. the fooun african union will double its forces there. everyone has been ordered off the streets except for peacekeepers and guards. >> jacky rowland has more on the summit in paris. we start with a warning - you may find some of the images in this report disturbing. >> french soldiers on foot patrol in bangui. it's new to the city and welcomed by many. they are here to reassure people to open up shops. also little the french can do about the growing sectarian violence between meeuws himself and christ nans. >> we muslims have been here for 250 years. anti-balaka millish areas killed more than 250 people. they slaughtered us. >> this is where many quistians are sheltering. this is the protection of french and african forces. there'll be another 2,500 african soldiers here soon. they'll head to different parts of the country, where hundreds of thousands have lost their homes. too late for the people in this hospital. they were evacuated after attack from fighters in the mainly muslim seleka troops. the hospital treated hundreds of people. what happened here was horrific. seleka went inside, dragging out injured people, killing at least 10. n months ago the rebel group seleka marched in bangui, bringing with it thousands of foreign fighters. the man that led the rebellion is holed up in this military base and will not accept that power is slipping away. >> how can you call yourself head of state of a country that you have absolutely no control over? >> translation: it's too much to say i have no control. i control my men, the men i can't control are not my men. there is school settling after 10 years of francois bozize, all the crimes he committed that he has not yet answered for. >> anti-balaka includes members of the army of former president francois bozize. al jazeera learnt that they are now outside bangui, waiting for reinforcements. people here are waiting for the next big battle. this time around the french and african forces have a chance of preventing more bloodshed. >> it's been promised to provide support. >> at the end of the 2-day summit the french took the opportunity of having so many african leaders under one roof to stay on and talk about the french and african republics. it was a decision to address the african forces to 6,000. there were plans to disarm rebels to get the militias back into the barracks and bases. in the longer term, there were plans to work in the religious tensions, at a donor's conference. part of the reinforcements are an enlargement from the french contingent. president francis holland said there are 1600 french troops in the south african republic. the french are engaged in mallee, 1600 in the central african republic. france wants to turn over african policing to african peace-keeping forces. france is engaged in two countries for some time to come. >> south africa beginnings a week of ser -- ceremonies honouring nelson mandela. crowds left flowers, photographs and balloons outside nelson mandela's home in johannesburg. a memorial service will be held on tuesday with president obama, george w. bush, and jimmy carter. the man defending nelson mandela's yisent is also speaking out. mike hanna sat with him to talk about the unique relationship. >> there was an excessive part of the government that get-nelson mandela in gaol, and he served under nelson mandela in the first democratic cabinet. as u.n. ambassador and foreign minister, it was his task to publicly defend the yisent of nelson mandela and other political opponents. privately he maintains he lobbied for nelson mandela's release. >> in 1982 i submitted a memorandum prepared by my department. and to the effect that nelson mandela ought to be released. we were making a bigger martyr of you every day stays in prison. that is international. and status. would be growing to an extent where he would not be able to handle it. eight years later nelson mandela became a free man. here you had a man who spent 27 years in prison and the day he was released. he displayed the - he displayed the cuban and energy to the person. who has been a president before. amazing what this idea, in the minds of people and for that matter, into world affairs. >> and central to the success of the process, that led to a peaceful transfer of power, was nelson mandela's insistence that there need be no losers, that all could win. >> we were not capitulating. you do not capitulate and surrender when you do the right thing. you liberrate yourself. that's what we do. it was not a cap ittual ace. >> and a man who says he was liberated quotes from a statement at his trial all those years ago. >> i have challenged the idea of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony with people. he concluded by saying it is an ideal which i hope to live for and achieve. but if needs be, it is an ideal for which i am prepared to die. having fought white domination, having fought black domination. it was that balance that enabled him to see that it is in the interests of this country that the blacks lead the whites and the whites lead the blacks. that is nelson mandela. that is his legacy. >> the minister of energy and mineral affairs for the first government. >> a team of inspectors is expected to arrive in iran to tour military facilities. it's the first time a team is able to visit the site. a long-standing deal to monitor the weapons is as likely to fail as it is to succeed. iran agreed to role back the enrichment of uranium used to build a nuclear bomb or generate nuclear energy. we have to not constantly assume that it's not possible far iran, like any country to change over time. it may not be likely. likelihood that we are able to arrive at the end state that i was describing earlier, i wouldn't say that it's more than 50/50. but we have to try. >> iran, the u.s. and five other world powers will meet in the coming days to discuss a 6 month agreement on the nuclear program. >> meanwhile, back in the u.s. a korean veteran returns home. reunited with his family he speaks out. >> and a message for president obama - about love for his country. >> protesters in ukraine gear up for a demonstration - the ultimatum given to the president to end the conflict. >> good morning, welcome back to al jazeera america. i'm morgan radford, live in new york city. after weeks being held in north korea a u.s. veteran is home in america, reunite with his family. in a moment we'll hear from merrill newman about his tourist trip that ended in detention. >> it will be cold. temperatures across the nation will stay below average. right now it's minus 14. it feels like we are minus 45 degrees. we have bone-chilling conditions across the northern area of the country. going down to the northern plains, temperatures subzero. we are at 1 degree in minneapolis. not much of a warm up is expected. there's advisories particularly for the wind chills through the dakotas. with the cold air we are expecting to see snow before day's end. >> meanwhile, a veteran held by north korea for weeks has returned to his family in california. north korea detained 85-year-old merrill newman, while he was visiting places where he fought in the corey an war. >> when merrill newman made the trip to north korea, he would not know how difficult it would turn out. after weeks in detention, he's back in the u.s., looking healthy, wife by his side, with a simple message. >> good home coming. i'm tired, but i'm here with my family now. thank you all for the support we have got and very much appreciated. >> newman was a soldier in the korean war, and his visit to pyongyang was a long-planned vacation. he was no ordinary soldier. the north koreans released this confession admitting his affiliation to the white tigers, an elite group. for merrill newman, the war was ancient criticism, but north korea, ready to fight american imperialist, merrill newman was an enemy of the state. the two countries never signed a peace treaty, are technically at war and as such his release likely required the personal approval of kim jong un. why north korea decided to let north korea go now is a mystery. >> after merrill newman has some rest we'll have more to say about his unusual and difficult journey. for now though, we ask you to allow us time to be with him as a family and ask that you not forget another american, kenneth bae, still held in the dprk. >> kenneth bae, sentenced to prison. he was caught spreading the word of christianity. deemed a greater threat than his soldier. merrill newman missed thanksgiving. considering the unpredict ability it was not clear if merrill newman would be let go. but he returned in time for the holidays. >> a senior obama admission officials said merrill newman's release was a direct result of contact between washington and pyongyang. >> a cuban boy, elian gonzalez, caught and a tug of war between his family in the u.s. and cuba. now 20 years old he is speaking out saying he's happy about his cuban upbringing. >> translation: i have lived let there be no doubt. whoever let there be no doubt. whoever is interested in this, i am >> elian gonzalez made the comments whilst attending a student conference in ecuador, which is the first time he left the country since being handed back to his father. he doesn't forgive his american relatives for trying to keep him in the u.s. and calls for president obama to lift the embargo. >> protesters prepare to take to the streets on monday in thailand. in the past it may have let the military to seize power. veronica pedrosa has more on the choice based on the thai military. >> thailand's military on felt opportunity duty. that parade is part of celebrations for the kings birthday. the military and monarchy, two institutions, both centre stage and behind the scene. now people in bangkok are once again seeing scenes of violence like this. the question being asked: is thailand's military prepared to stage another kout deta, it would be the 12th. the headquarters are surrounded by protesters. the soldiers are staying in their barracks. it could be a transformative moment in thai politics. whatever decision the army takes about what to do next could be the crucial factor. what the military wants is a matter of debate. we spoke to a top security official. he told us some protesters are soldiers. did you say some protesters are soldiers? >> yes. [ inaudible ] >> back in 2010 during mass demonstrations there was talk about how the military was provoking violence and used it as an excuse to take power. >> thailand has changed. we cannot go back. the country is controlled by a small group of people. it's a turning point. >> the last time the military grabbed power in 2006 it was from thaksin shinawatra. it tried to return it to the people through a new constitution. the current prime minister yingluck shinawatra tried to amend it. some say the military wants to back by using what looks like a people's resolution. >> translation: the army can't put up with the situation. if it can't solve the political problem. >> how likely is it that there would be another coup? >> i cannot say. >> the next few months will tell in the military is ready to march to a new and different tune. >> the democratic party is protesting the ilget massy of the government. remembing nelson mandela. the people around the world celebrate the leader. i share my own story meeting him and his grandson. honouring those that lost their lives. thousands gathered to pay respects in the pearl harbour attack. >> i'm john henry smith, and an exciting game had a ripple affect in college football. highlights ahead in sport. >> welcome back, i'm morgan radford and these are the top stories. south korea announced an expansion of its air defense zone. the extension covering an area of the east china sea claimed by beijing and tokyo. china came under criticism for claiming part of the area. >> a cold snap has caused a few accidents. including this man in this vehicle that lost control and slid off a bridge. expected conditions and airport delays are expected from virginia to new england. >> a day of warning in south africa as the nation and the world pays tributable to nelson mandela. nelson mandela's ex-wife winnie attended a church service. president obama, george w. bush and clinton will travel to south africa for memorial services. >> we go to our correspondent at the soweto church where services wrapped up. what is significant about this church? these are some of the church members in the church listening to the service. this building was a lot of things to many people. up therefore on the painting on the wall is the painting of a great activist. we have nelson mandela, and archbishop desmond tutu. during apartheid students running from the police used to come in and hide. there were occasions that police would come in and shoot them, and several have died in this building. it's an emotional time, an historical place. it shows how far the country has come. >> you mentioned people cowering in the church. what are religious leaders saying today about madeba's passing. >> the message is simple. it was think about the good things and learn from him. one thing was be a good person. the police were saying for example, share a meal with a friend. sit, chat, talk about nelson mandela, talk about the moments that you loved about him, the moments that made you laugh and cry, and what you learnt from the great man. that is the message, go out there. not just today, but spend the rest of your life living a life that nelson mandela lived and be a good person. it's not difficult. yes, he was a great man, but any person can be a good person. >> you mentioned the moments of laughter. we saw images of people in the streets of soweto dancing. has the mood shifted from one of mourning to one of celebrating his legacy? >> yes, it is. it's a great thing to do. nelson mandela was 95 years old. when someone that old die, spend days crying. you gather with your family and friends and celebrate the life of a person, be it your grandfather or someone like nelson mandela that people saw as the father of the nation. there's now a chance to celebrate what a great man nelson mandela was. >> that's beautiful. the images are gripping. thank you so much for joining us from soweto. >> people from all over are sharing their stories about nelson mandela, remembering the man who changed a country and, in essence, the world. for some his legacy was personal. i had the privilege to interview his grandson about his legacy. >> in 2012 i interviewed nelson mandela's grandson who went to live with nelson mandela when he was 11. >> before he became president in "93 he came to fetch me. i stayed with him then. >> he told me about the first time he met his grandfather, when he was behind bars serving his sentence. >> i was eight or nine. my parents told me we were going to see my grandfather in gaol. >> when we got to the place, it had a proper house, tv, beautiful house and a pool. i was like, "wow, when i grow up one day, i want to go to gaol. i thought that's how people live in gaol." i thought i wanted to be like my grandfather and go to gaol when i grow up >>. a convict he was not. though he laughs now, he, like the country, was forever changed. >> the legacy of apartheid is still very much alive. just in a different way. apartheid was a brutal violence system. that is what we are fighting. presenting a positive image of our country of our continent and people. >> that image of africa is what his grandfather tried to redefine. >> when he came out of jam and said, "i don't want to take revenge, i want to create peace, move forward and bring development. >> if you look at his legacy, a person that had compassion for his people. moving forward, redefining what does africa represent. who are we, what is our history. >> that is what is seen as the task ahead of him. as a sav gan, a young person and nelson mandela. for me i'm continuing what has been started. >> continuing something for a man whose leg as si it seems is in good hands. >> he started a foundation called africa rising. focused on rebranding africa, showing global contribution. >> anti-government protesters take to the streets. demonstrators are hoping for a manch. thousands couped the square. demonstrations were started because of you crauh-uh crane's obviouslying an e.u. agreement. let's o go to kiev. good morning. opposition is calling for a march. do we expect to see that kind of support? >> i can tell you that a lot of people have shown up so far today here on independence square. it's called mydan. it is impressive to see the numbers of flags fluffing in the breeze, it's below zero. there's snow in the air. they need the large numbers. they are not going anywhere, they were going on for more than two weeks. their principle demand is that they want to have close integration with the european union. something that the president is steering this country away from when he said no in talks with the e.u. in viel nier a week or so ago. i'll step away from the camera so you can get a sense of what is going on, basically political leaders are talking. they are addressing the crowds. people are cheering. they say, "glory to you yan." they want to stay out here. there's a little concern that there may be potential for some violence later because there was some incidents, nasty incidents with the police this time last week when they came and cleared the square and other areas. the organizers have been calling for hard hats so they can protect themseves from the police. the riot police are not year yet and the government gave the protesters until tuesday to clear the military buildings. >> the incredible energy in the scare. is there a chance that the government will bow to public pressure and walk away from the deal? >> i think the president viktor yanukovych at. moment is sitting tight. he has not agreed to sit with talks with the movement. it lacks the clarity of message or the attraction with the president. in 2004 they were calling specifically for re-elections. this time they want him to go or the government to step down for a new government. they are talking about obstruction measures, they want a change in the political system. these are ideas that are difficult to force concessions on. these are sitting with vladimir putin on friday. people want to know what he was discussing. this has been an this is a choice between europe or a choice between some kind of soviet union 2.4, they russia has a corrupting influence on the country. we'll see how things progress throughout the day. >> thank you for joining us from kiev. a car bomb attack from a police station in columbia killed eight people. it happened in a town south-east of the booingo tea. fighters known as farc are suspected of being behind the attack. leaders and officials are engaged in talks, trying to end a 50 year war that is taking 200,000 lives. >> 72 years ago this weekend pearl harbour was attacked. it was known as the day of infamy. 400 japanese plants bombarded -- planes bombarded hawaii, pushing u.s. in world war ii. thousands gathered at pearl harbour, including 72 veterans and survivors of the attack. the family overlooked the memorial for the uss "arizona," which sank during the attack killing 1200. >> officials are discouraging people from submitting paper applications for health care, worried that they will not be processed in time. people need to enrol by december 23rd to get coverage for the new year in january. >> a potentially major breakthrough in a fight against breakthrough in a fight against cancer. for people with leukaemia. it's a gene they werely altering the blood cells. doctors say success rates in tests have so far been stunning. in a statement issued in september by the american board they could clean men. two months later the board reversed its decision, allowing gynecologists to check men. to help us understand what is at stake is a social endeemiologist at columbia university. first off, i think it's fair to say most people associate gynecologists with women. why are men seeing them at all. >> obstet ricts and ginocology is the field of medicine of women, in particular reproductive. >> anal cancer is on the rise. and many of the procedures that are used to look for cervical cancer in women, pap smears, are similar to what can be used to it's a shift to use those as in male. >> what exactly was the argument. why did the board threaten them to rescind their participation. he board of gingology d many are choosing to do procedures n women that are not reproductive related and are seeing men for this reason. the american board decided it was time to bring that in. and to redefine the field >> why did they change their mind? >> they almost couldn't ignore it. >> yes, and many doctors that semen went to the board and said, "we are leaving these people in the cold." they don't have other options for care. this is the best we have. other studies have been funded. procedures to screen for anal cancer in men and women, decreasing the incidents, and not having the best trained doctors. it's an important goal giving the incidents of anal cancer to understand who has it and to treat it. >> what does that mean for doctors? will they need additional training to treat men? >> not necessarily. the same treatment uses a special scope and basically vein eggar to look at the mooug cosso, the sells for changes in cancer. it's the same procedure used in females. most egyns are able to do this. as this moves forward, given the reversal of their choice do not allow it in patients. increasingly residency training will have some training. >> thank you so much for being with us. >> john henry smith is here with a look in sport. >> thank you morgan. championship game on saturday. one game sent shock waves, the big 10 championship. ohio state, punching their ticket in the title game with a win ever michigan stake. they came to play. scores in the first quarter, up 3-0. cook sent a touchdown past and later cook is at it again. this time he'll look for and find a guy named tony the incredible mr lip it for the 33 yard score. braxton miller went around. suddenly gank is not enough in the third. touching down. six wards up. they are up for the first time. >> it was ending on a 17-0 run. 34-24, punching the ticket to the rose ball and knocked ohio out of the picture. >> ohio's loss was celebrated in auburn. they were holering louder. auburn football nation new that the buck eyes loss new they could make the game with a win. speaking of share k, quarterback nick marshall shared the ball. he lost two, including this one for an 11-yard score. mason at 194 yards. in the first half auburn led. whatever happened at half-time, it did not work. missouri with the lead. it was mostly auburn from there. mason, corey grant 65 yards. it put the hurt on the 15-yard run. within three, in the fourth quarter, two more touchdowns. rushing almost 59-42. afterwards the coach made the case for the receiver to go to the final game. >> we play the toughest schedule of any team and the best football. a lot of teams are not getting better each week. this team is. >> auburn is probably going to the game. top raid florida is going to the game, taking on duke in the battle game. the seminoles never lost. jameis winston finding his legal problems were over. 230 yards and three touch downs. dukes has been a story, but they were no match. the seminoles look to head to their b.c. s battle ground since the 2000 season. numbers look strong. 28 touch downs 3800 yards. it remains to be seen how the controversies will upset the voting. >> we finish with a fantastic finish. colorado never beat kansas. three seconds left. shoots for the win, bulls eye. colorado beat kansas 75-72. that's the look at sport. >> thank you john henry smith. i was bummed that duke lost. >> best football season they've had in a while. >> good to here. ji john henry smith with sport. 20 years in the making. an artwork creating controversy among environmentalists. the latest on a storm creating dangerous conditions. a live shot of the capitol building in washington d.c. - in the eye of that very storm. tñ >> welcome back to al jazeera america. i'm morgan radford live from new york city. >> just ahead, he's a well-known artist. christos later work is facing backlashing from environmentists. why they are upset with a piece that's been in the making for a decade. first a look at the rain and snow withologist -- with metrologist eboni dean. >> snow widespread across the midwest and the great lakes. the snow flakes flying as we speak. much of the day will be on the quiet side. serra cues the only exception. around b.c. and baltimore starting with snow and changing to a freezing rain and snow mix. >> the renowned and eclectic artist christo is facing backlash over his project, which is above the arkansas river. some say it will damage the eco system. >> it's called over the river. this is the river, the arkansas in south central colorado. what christo wants to do is suspend hundreds of huge panels of silvery clothe, six miles of it, in eight sections along a 42 mile stretch of the river. his drawings showing how his sunlight will filter through the fabric. the best way to see it is on the raft. >> 6,000 rafters will go through. it's creating play of life under the fabric, mixing with the water. up, not down. >> christo and his team have been working on over the river for 20 years and had to get approval from state and federal agencies. most of the project is on protected land. >> christo is raising the 50 million it will cost by selling hundreds of work. christo and his late wife and collaborator became famous for their outlandish projects. over the river is no different. >> thousands of people try to stop us. thousands try to help us. there's no way that you can be part of the project. winning or not winning. it created that energy. christian says he and jean clawed travelled over the mounting scouting 89 rivers before deciding this one, the arkansas was perfect. critics of over the river say it was anything but the ideal location. it's on the scale of a mining operation. >> ellen border is the vice president of rags over the rif. they say work to install the anchors, cables and fabric will damage the landscape. >> it's an area in critical . others say they support the project. >> it will create a lot of tension for this part of colorado, and i think it will do a lot to put this area on the map. >> assuming christo wins the final round of commonwealth bankling will take two years, and when it's completed over the river will be up for two weeks. christo is famous for outmanoeuvring and outlasting s opponents. at 80 years old over the river could be one of the last works of a long and winding career. >> at the end of our first hour, here is what we are following this morning. a cold snap across much of the country is paralyzing travel on the road and in the air. several deaths have been linked to the icy weather which is bringing snow to the midwest, all the way down to texas. south korea is expanding its defense zone which will overlap with similar zone for china. >> the official mourning of nelson mandela has begun. president obama and mrs. obama will attend the furniture on tuesday. it's part of a series of events planned to honour the leader. >> i'm john henry smith, we'll look on a championship saturday in college football. the day that stood up for d.c. s. >> al jazeera continues in 2.5 minutes. i'm morgan radford. i'll be back with all the top stories. >> troops on the ground. hundreds of french troops sent to the central african republic trying to restore order. anti-government protesters in the ukraine call for a million-man march trying to get rid of the government. in a day of mourning nelson mandela's ex-wife attended a church service to pay tribe ute to a government. gold snap across the city - smart lander at a stand still. freezing rain and heavy snow - cold snap. >> good morning, welcome to al jazeera america. i'm morgan radford, live in new york city. the french president issued a veiled warning to the president of the central african republic, francis hollande saying it will be tough to keep him in place given the violence or the ground. 400 have been killed in the past few days. the african union plans to double its forces. 10,000 are being guarded. >> reporters have the latest. jacky rowland is in paris with more on a summit involving african leaders. you may find some of these images in this report disturbing. >> french soldiers on foot patrol in bangui, this is new to the city and welcomed by many. they are here to reassure people to open up shop. at the moment there's no food or medicine. there's little the french can do about the growing sectarian violence between muslims and caistians. we muslims have been here for 200 years. anti-balaka militia killed 260 people, they slaughtered us. >> this is where many christians are shelt aring. under the protection. french and african forces. >> there'll be another 2, 5-00 soldiers. they'll head to different parts of the country where hundreds of thousands lost their homes. attacks by the mainly muslim seleka group. the hospital is empty now. it used to treat hundreds. friday night in the early hours of saturday is horrific. forces went inside and dragged out injured people here, killing at least 10. nine months ago the rebel group seleka marched into bangui, bringing thousands of foreign fighters. the man that led the rebellion is holed up in the military base and will not accept that power is slipping away. >> how can you call yourself head of state of a country you have no control over. >> translation: it's too much to say i have no control. i control my men. the mep i can't control are not my men. there's score settling after 10 years, all the crimes committed by francois bozize, which he has not answered for. >> anti-balaka includes members of the army of former president francois bozize. al jazeera learnt they are outside bangui racing for enforcement. people here are waiting for the next big battle. this time around french and african forces with a chance of presenting more bloodshed. promised to provide logistical and statistical reports to build a force. >> at the end of a 2-game summit the french took the opportunity of having so many leaders to stay on and talk about the pressing subject of the central african republic. the head line to increase the african force to 6,000 troops. there were plans for the troops to disarm, troops to go back into their barracks and off the street. there were plans to work to reduce religious tensions and hold a donors conference. part of the reinforceents are an enlargement of the french contingent. president francis hollande has 1600 troops. they are engaged in mali, 3,000 troops there, and 1600 in the central african republic. in the longer terms they want to turn obvious african policing. france is engaged in two countries for some time to come. >> the aim is to pave the way fore elections in 2015. >> prayers and remembrance in south africa as mourners gather to remember a man known as madeba. you are looking at live shots of people paying respects in jofi joseph. our reporter is there at a museum dedicated to nelson mandela. he spoke to some visitors gathered there. how are people commemorating. >> in a variety of ways. i talked to a woman a couple of minutes ago on this street. a street festival it has been. i asked if this is a day of sad innocence tore -- or celebration, she said, "a little of both." there was none of that, no crying or tears. there was a sense of celebration and release among the people of south africa. >> here a day of reflection and prayer, which the president called for manifested itself as a street party. we have the self-styled bikers that you may hear in the background. 100 or so that have dropped by and are entertaining the kids by bying songs with the accelerators on their bike. >> and a military wing, long sings disbanded but in uniform leading people in chants, "long live nelson mandela", an extraordinary scene on the site of the nelson mandela, house where he lived and is now an historical museum, 100 metres or so from the nelson mandela family restaurant. a few tears for a great man passed, but more looking to the future and people hoping to take this and carry on. >> you mentioned a day of prayer. what are some of the messages this national day of mourning of. >> president zoouma calling for a -- jacob zuma calling for a day of prayer and it's thought sinna gogs and churches will talk about nelson mandela. the biggest catholic church in a largely christian country said the message is simple - nelson mandela paved the way, now we have to walk the path. that was his message to everybody, 1,000 or so gathered as a congregation. that was his message. he did great things. we have to honour him by taking them and moving ahead. >> thank you so much. >> while south africa conditions to celebrate the life and legacy of nelson mandela many acknowledge that lasting impact of years of forced racial separation. al jazeera's correspondent met to meet an interracial couple to talk about the task of racial integration that lies ahead. >> this couple are married. during apartheid relationships between whites and nonwhites prosecutor illegal. nelson mandela fought four equality. now they don't have to hide their relationship. being a mixed couple still have challenges. >> people accept that we are married, but not this close. it's okay to work and have coffee with someone. when it gets personal it's a bit weird. that's what i think, people haven't lived and that's what i find is uncomfortable. racism is a problem. some blacks don't like whites, some whites don't like blacks. one of our friends, there was whites, blacks, coloureds having a good time. he said, "i wish south africa was like this." and that is my south africa, how i experience it. >> the ban on mixed marriages was scrappeded. one of the early reforms signalling the end of rule and nelson mandela's release from prison. >> nelson mandela died on thursday. people are leaving cards and flowers at a house where he passed away. >> this used to be a white neighbourhood. usually the blacks were the gardeners or the house maids. reconciliation is still a work in progress. nelson mandela will be buried on sunday, 15 december. >> it's up to south africa to make the dream of rech job silliation a reality. >> a recent survey of racial and social attitudes in south africa showed that less than 40% of south africans socialise with > hundreds of thousands out in the streets as protests in ukraine continue into a third straight week. demonstrations were sparked by ukraine's decision to shelve n e.u. agreement in favour of a russian one. >> a new government is hoping to >> a car bomb attack on a police station in col up -- col um bia. behind the attack. the blast destroyed the police station and other buildings. farc leaders and columbian officials are engaged in peace talks, but are trying to end a 50-year war that has taken more than 200,000 lies. >> a team of u.n. weapons inspectors are expected to arrive in iran. it will be the first time that a u.n. team has been able to visit the site in two years. meanwhile president obama said the pursuit of a longstanding deal with iran to monitor its weapons is likely to fail as it is to succeed. he was talking at a pro-israel forum in washington. iran will roll back it's enrichment of uranium, which can be used to build a nuclear bomb, but also to generate energy. >> we have to not constantly assume that it's not possible r possible for iran, like any country to change over time. it may not be likely. if you ask me what is the likelihood at us arriving at the end state that i described earlier, i wouldn't say that it's more than 50/50. we have to try. >> iran, the u.s. and five other world powers will meet in the coming days to discuss a 6-month agreement. >> we are cracking a storm system creating problems. let's bring in metrologist eboni dean. >> i'm tracking a storm system in the east and a storm system across the west that will make its way east ward, merging with the system in place. it will create more travel woes across the north-east and great lakes. now. we have a wide area dealing with the snow showers. there's an icy part of it. then as we get the snow changing over to freezing, we could end up with a tenth of an inch to a quarter of an inch of ice stretching from virginia, north carolina up to pennsylvania. this is something we'll need to watch as conditions deteriorate. once you get the ice to accumulate, that's when we are talking about power outages and trees coming down or limbs. with this amount of ice that we are expecting it will be a nuisance until we get afl an nsh of ice. as we go through the day, it's gold. moisture starts to make its way northwards, interacting with cold air. snow expected in new york city. it won't stick around all that long. behind it we'll get the wintry mix and it will change to rain. more of a wintry mix before we get the rain. temperatures moderate on monday. >> south korea expand its air defense zone fuelling intentions. concerns that protests in thailand may be sizzling as the prime minister tries to quell the anger. >> welcome back. i'm morgan radford. there are growing concerns about the bird flu virus that has killed some in china. they are watching here in the for americans. first, a look at the weather. >> we are starting with the heart of the coldest air, temperatures down to the single digits, stretching to montana where we are sitting at minus 14, as we go through the day we lds of 25-35. ng with it will be a cold one to watch across the north-east. around philadelphia we are expecting to see the snow showers changing to rain on monday. if the snow is not sitting around, temperatures back to the mid 40s, dropping to the 30s. we'll be on a roller-coaster ride. highs and lows m cold but we will moderate. the warmest air back in florida. >> increasing tensions in asia where south korea raidses the stakes, announcing it will expand its air defense zone. the seen and chinas areas overlap covering disputed territory between those two countries. health officials in hong kong are looking for people that have been in contact with an 80-year-old man that has bird flu. the virus doesn't appear to be easily containous between humans. as reported, cautions are taken as more than a third of those that have caught the flu died. >> china is on high alert. the world health organization says that since march of this year there has been a total of 45 deaths from a strain of bird influenzaa called h-7 and 9. result in the influenzaa going from the bird to the human. when the person is infected it is serious. >> that is why hong kong shut down live poultry mark et cetera and suspended chickens from naturals in mainland china. there's no evidence that the strain spreads from human to humans, there are fears that is could. >> they are taking this very seriously. one of the reasons they are doing it is that influenzaa - this strain of influenzaa in birds does not make the bird sick. you can't follow the sick birds. on the campus the front lines for the strain over in china wanted by the national institute of health, there's a team of doctors and scientists working to treat people around the world. >> three months ago dr katherine edwards joined the search. >> the chinese were good about sharing the virus with the who and with the c.b.c. so that we could begin to grow the virus. in the test trials they affected 200 people with varying levels. it led to a development of a vaccine. researchers know that while china is 8,000 miles away a global food pandemic could be on the doorstep at any time. >> it used to be if something happened in china we wouldn't see it for a long time. any of these pandemics are playing right away. >> americans should know that the public health infrastructure that we have this the united states is alert to this. we are all tuned in, on top of this and watching it carefully. >> as test trials continue at vanderbilt should the disease spread. >> most of the flu cases were reported in march and april of this year, with virtually no new cases over the summer. as the traditional flu season is back, there's fear the bird flu may come back. >> a major breakthroe in the fight against cancer. an speerntal treatment -- experimental treatment could be a cure for leukaemia. success rates have been stunning. >> to thailand where the main opposition party says it's resigning from parliament, throwing the country into crisis as protesters take to the streets on monday. in the past this unrest might have held thailand's military to seize power. veronica pedrosa has more on the choice facing the thai military. thailand's milita on photo opportunity duty. this parade part of the celebrations for the king's birthday. the military and the monarchy, two institutions that ruled the country centre stage and behind the scenes over the years. now people in bangkok are once again seeing scenes of violence like this. the question being asked is thailand's military prepared to stage i don't remember cout de ta the 12th in 80 years. the thai army headquarters is surrounded by protesters. for now the soldiers are staying in their barrack. this could be a transformative moment in thai politics. whatever decision the army takes about what to do next, could be the crucial factor. what the military wants is a matter of debate. we spoke to a top security official who asked not to be identified and he told us some protesters are soldiers. >> did you say some of the protesters were soldiers. >> yes. all units have traineded the people using m 16. >> back in 2010 during mass demonstrations there was talk about how the military was trying to provoke violence. >> i think they need to accept the fact that thailand has changed. we cannot go back to the old days where the country was having other troubles. >> the last time the military grabbed power in 2006 it was from thaksin shinawatra. it tried to return it to the people. the current prime minister thaksin's sister has tried to amend it. some say the military wants it back by using what looks like a people's revolution. >> translation: the army can't put up with this situation. >> how likely is it that there'll be another coup? >> i cannot say. the next if you months will tell in the military is ready to march to a new and different tune. >> democratic party is protesting what it calls the ilget massy of the thai government. >> venezuelans go to the polls. they'll vote in the first regional elections since hugo chavez died in march. the new president has done little to arrest food short ints and sky rocketing inflation. >> polarized, venezuelans go back to the polls to elect municipal and mayoral representatives. a majority of seats, five years ago was won by hugo chavez's party. the opposition hopes to do better. >> translation: there's a growing number of people in the middle. sunday people should cast a vote, punishing the government. >> there are significant food shortages. crime in the capital is urge issing. at 54% inflation is one of the highest in the world. the economic crisis is growing. >> translation: we are dangerously dependent on oil. we have used them without saving. it's caused a fat expansion of cash while the international reserves fall. >> in a country, for many venezuelans economic policies are failing. 62% say the government is inefficient. the election will show how loyal people continue to be to the government's party. >> and that is the case for 65 jooerld retiree. he says he juggled every day to find food for his mother and wife. you have to go around to find products. i'll vote for a government candidate because food is rising because owners are hoarding them. >> others say people are still in favour because the opposition doesn't have a clear agenda. >> translation: they don't tell people how they will ensure private property and invest in a >> in the last presidential election the government won by one percentage point. in a country emerging in an economic crisis it feels like a retched um -- like a referendum. >> as the war in syria rages on, reports surface now that a rebel group associated with al qaeda may be holding a group of nuns hostage. more americans joining the workforce. what the latest job numbers mean for the economy and politically. >> i'm john henry smith. a big-10 championship game. highlights ahead in sports. >> welcome back. you're watching al jazeera i'm morgan radford with your top stories. >> south korea announces an expansion of its air defence zone, covering an area covered by beijing and tokyo. china came under criticism of the the move by south korea had been expected and goes into effect on december 15th. >> a cold sap is gripping the heartland and is responsible for several deaths, including the driver of this s.u.vl who lost control and slid off a bridge in texas. the storm is moving east recollects expected to bring airport delays. >> a day of mourning in south africa as the nation in the world paid tribute to nelson nelson mandela's ex-wife and jacob zuma attended church service in his honour. u.s. president barack obama, bush, carter and clinton will travel to south africa for memorial services. >> a rebel group tied to al qaeda is demanding the release of detainees. it's holding at least 12 nuns hostage. they were moved from a town damaged in fighting between rebels and government forces. >> this is the christian village north-east of damascus. it's under the control of rebels from the free syrian army. they drove out government troops six days ago. >> after we regained control, the regime's forces targeted the churches and mosques. >> during the battle roads and buildings were damaged. the growth orthodox church is standing. the convent did not fare well. >> as you can see the convent was shelleded by tanks and rocket launches and suffered damage and the convent and the mosque met the same fate. >> the rebels took a dozen nuns out of here to the nearby town. the rebels say they moved the nuns for their own protection and they'll be released. some say fighters from the al-nusra front are demanding 1,000 women and children be freed. >> the entire city has been raided. we didn't find civilians, just 12 nuns and a deacon. we have taken them up, by the grace of god, to a safe shelter. >> this is one place where people speak ar make. theno carrierringringconnect 190 ..this can be a choppy report. we'll have to see what december's report it. >> of course, tis the season to be merry, holiday shopping, will that give a lift heading into the new year. consumer confidence is high. people are spending but they are being careful. people are looking for deals. as we see them come in we'll probably see more spending. thak you, kevin. >> john henry smith is here with sport headlines and he will give us a look at the college football scene. he's here looking at the key college game and will tell us about philadelphia. that is coming soon. >> absolutely i will be in philadelphia for the eagles-lions game. coverage on al jazeera. now we are talking college football. it was championship game saturday. there was a game that could send shock waves. a win over michigan. they came to play. for the first time this season - 72 yards for a touch down. cook at it again. michigan state up 17-0. early in the second half miller they were late first. miller with a second touch down. six yards out. 24 unanswered points from the buck eyes, and it was party on time. michigan state ended on a 17-nothing run and starting to bin 34-24 to punch a ticket to the rose ball, knocking ohio state out of the b.c. s picture. across the football nations, the buckeyes loss. tiger on tiger. number 3 and number 5 share a nickname. nick marshall shared the ball with missouri three time via a fumble. losing two of them. mason 194 yard and two scores in the first. auburn 28-27 at the break. whatever was said the half-time did not work. corey grant at 55 yards, that score. put the hurt on the tigers and missouri with a 15-yard scoring run. franklin ending the third. putting them within three. in the fourth mason time, scoring two more shutdowns. going with a challenge conference game, auburn wins. afterwards. made the case for his time. >> we played the toughest schedule of any of teams and played our best football. a lot of teams are not getting better. this one is. >> auburn is probably one of the best games, florida state is going to the big game, taking on duke. the seminoles never lost to duke and they still haven't. jameis winston fresh off finding out his legal problems are behind him. duke has been one of college football's great stories. they were no match. seminoles look to be heading to the first b.c. s final game since the 2000 season. let's check out the numbers. 38 touchdowns for jameis winston. leading florida into contention for a national contention. it remains to be seen how the off the field controversies affect the voting. 17 and 2, 14 wins against losing team. started a 3-game gauntlet. saturday they took the floor at san antonio take the the spurrs. and budding superstar. a game-high 28. tuesday they host the heat. i'll be at the game. look for the report from ind yappo lis. >> it's a growing problem on streets, people riding without their helmets. that's why a pair of swedish designers are hoping to revolutionize biking with fashion. i quite like it. >> cycling is a big part of life in freedom. 80% ride bikes for commute and pleasure. only a third wear helmets. >> i never cycle with a helmet on my head. i crash with a helmet once and i cracked in two pieces. >> we learnt to ride a bike and never used a helmet. >> two industrial design students decided to create a helmet people wanted to wear. this was born and mixes high tech with fashion. >> they want something discrete, something that went with their personal style. a lot of vanity issues. people were asking for something inadvice -- invisible. unlike a helmet you zip it up. ride. >> it has patterns to determine when i cyclist will crash. >> each year 300 people sustain head injuries in cycling accidents. any initiative to project drivers is welcome. >> there is 20 or 30 killed every year. it's worrying. we are working now to increase e they've been deployed it can't be reusable. at 540 a piece some see it as an ex-pennsive investment innovate ors hope it will become a part of a sick lifts uniform and turn bike safety on its head. >> according to the institute for highway safety 75% of adult cyclists killed were not wearing helmets. >> no tobacco, smoke or smell. a real risk. >> 20 years in the making, an artwork creating controversy by environmentalists. >> i'm tracking storms. i'll let you know where they are heading next. >> welcome back to al jazeera america for a look at a major storm headed for the east coast. let's bring in metrologist. >> the cold air is in space. it's surging northwards. the moisture is lifting north. we are starting to see a little more in the way of snow moving to virginia and a wintry mix. we'll see in d.c. and baltimore, a few numbers of, one to two inches. right now we are not seeing a lot of that, maybe snow showers, and not a lot of troops. that will change as we go through the morning. rain has been abundant, travelling along i 40. freezing rain has ended around memphis. >> the renowned and eclectic artists is facing backlash over its latest problem. it's to suspend fabric high above the arkansas river. some say it will damage the eco system. >> it's called over the river and this is the river. the arkansas in south central colorado. what crystal wants to do is suspend huge panels of cloth, six miles of it in eight sections along a 42 mile stretch of the river. drawings show how the sunlight filters through. the best way to see it is underneath on a raft drifting through the canyon. >> 300,000 rafters go down the arkansas river. it will be spectacular to see the space. it's creative play of life into the fabric, reflecting the water. >> christo and his team have been working on over the river for more than 20 years and had to get approval from state and federal agencies. most of the project is on protected land. christo is raising the 50 million it will cost by selling hundreds of preparatory works which he makes by hand. christo and his late wife became famous for their outsides and some say outlandish projects. every one is outlandish. >> all have a journey. thousand people try to help us. even in some ways, in the position, they are part of the project, willing or not willing, you are related to the project and created the energy. >> christ scro says he and jean clawed travelled over the mound ans scouting -- mountains scouting 89 rivers before deciding this is perfect. critics say this is anything but the ideal location. >> on the scale of a mining operation. >> this is the vice president of roar - rags over the arkansas river. they are taking legal action taking legal action saying that it will damage the landscape. >> it's a major construction project in an area of critical environmental concerned. >> christos team say they'll minimise the damage. >> others support it. >> it will create a lot of tension, but it will do a lot to put the area on the map. >> assuming christo wins the round of legal wrangling, construction will take two years. when completed over the river will be up. christo is famous for outmanoeuvring and out lasting his opponents. at 80 years old over the river could be one of the last works. >> christo is working on a project in the united arab emirates where he plans on creating a scup pt tur out of oil barless. >> elian gonzalez is back in the spotlight after being caught in a tug of war between relatives in the u.s. and his father in cuba. now he speaks out about his upbringing. >> translation: i have lived happy in cuba for 14 yearsment let there be no doubt. whoever is interested in this, i am happy living in cuba. >> he made the comment while attending a student conference in ecuador. he says he does not forgive his american relatives for trying to keep him in the u.s. and calls on president obama to lift the embargo on cuba. >> people in washington state celebrated a unique anniversary. celebrating when marnal your legalize took effect. smoking in the treat are not d. washington and colorado is the only u.s. state where recreational use of marnal is legal. >> electronic cigarettes are safer and less intrusive. utah and other places regulate them like tobacco. >> electronic cigarettes are so popular they are all the store here sells. no tobacco, just vaper. >> it's a step in a smarter room. >> raymond padilla says it was smarter for him. >> this is the only thing that worked. >> these cigarettes don't have the tar. it delivers the active ingredients of marijuana if you want. they are catching on with kids. >> intuitively these are nicotine delivery systems with dozens of chemicals. the odds that this is a harmless activity and harmless for those taking in second hand vapours are small. >> the los angeles city council passed a law requiring a licence to sell these cigarettes and banses sales on the streets. it's to discourage sales to minors. the cigarettes are markets to children, and especially flavours like bubble gum which you are not allowed to do. three states are treating them ke cigarettes. 100 cities, los angeles among them are beginning to restrict the cigarettes. los angeles is considering another bill banning the use of escripts in places where tobacco is prohibited. the "the los angeles times" said h evidence of harm. they wrote fear is not a good basis for regulation. research is. government agencies should be wary of overreacting. it's not an overreaction according to the lung association. >> we don't know what the dangers of using them might be. we want to her on the side of caution. >> it's fine to keep e-cigarettes away from kids, but it is feared that overregulation will drive smokers back to tobacco. we are trying to help people get off tobacco products. >> the free-willing days of electronic cigarettes may be a look at what is coming out of that device. re expected to double to 1.7 million, a fraction of $80 million that traditional cigarettes bring in. the end of the second hour, here is what we are following: a cold snap across the country is perilizing travel in the road and in the air. >> south korea announce ex-anding an pair defense zones overlapping with china's. >> official mourning for nelson mandela. the white house says pam yes and mrs. obama will attend a memorial on tuesday. >> it's an exciting conference - a day that shook up the b.c. s. >> i'm tracking rain, snow and where you'll see dangerous >> we sustain in just a minute. >> frozen solid - major american cities at a standstill as an ice storm drifts across the country with its sites set on the east coast. >> south korea expands its air space zone increasing tensions in the region. >> boots on the ground - hundreds of french troops sent to central african republic. >> nelson mandela's family shares their grief. the first lady plans to travel to south africa for the memorial with president obama. >> welcome to al jazeera america. i'm richelle carey. >> officially much of the country is experiencing wintry temperatures. the major heardland took a beating from a storm. it's heading to the east coast. experts say it will last a day, but they are expecting snow, ice and rain. boston countries are preparing for lots of rain and 6 inches of snow. a wintry blast knocked out power and flights in idaho. >> a severe cold snap is blanketing the mid tox. in louisville texas an ice patch sent a driver out of control into the freezing waters. the driver was kill. rescue teams called in to pick up the truck. >> they had to get in the water and lift it out. >> from texas to oklahoma, turned over trucks, traffic black ice forcing drivers to creep along roadways. conditions so bad that people are braving the temperatures, walking to work. the freezing weather knocking out power at dallas fort worth international airport. 400 flict cancelled. setting up camps on the floor. hunker down. >> a foot of snow fell in illinois. the storm strexed into minnesota, and north dakota where temperatures hover above zero. i second storm in the west set record lows. several tide in hypothermia. a million dollars worth of citrus damaged. back east there weren't cars on the streets. there's no admission. one young woman is making the best of a blast, lacing up skates and taking to the streets. >> we'll check in on the forecast shortly. increasing tensions in asia. south korea raising the stakes, expanding its air defense zone after a move by china. the south korean and chinese zones overlap. they were talk to neighbours to make sure therefore no accidents. >> it's a direct response to china's expansion of its air defense zone. the extension overlaps south korea's air defense zone as well as pertinently japan's one. there is a heated dispute between china and japan over the senkakku islands or the diaoyu island. there is an area including an undersea reef. there is a south korean research station that's been built on that. it has a south korean helipad and is under de facto south korean control. because of an accident of history when the americans drew the defense zone, it didn't include that area. it's an opportunity for south korea to write who many were surprised to see was the current situation, extending its zone allowing for an ease of military operation within the zone. the south korean government making it clear that it's going things in a different way to beijing which made the announcement. it's saying that it consulted with the neighbours and the u.s. and doing things in a regularized way. >> the french president issued a veiled warning to the president of the central african republic. francis hollande said it will be tough to keep is in place given worsening violence. hundreds of people have been killed. france is distracting troops and plans to double its forces. >> 10,000 flood the capital. everyone has been ordered off the streets except for foreign peacekeepers and the presidential guard. others have the latest on the crisis. we start with bangui. a barning - some of the viewers may find the images disturbing. >> french soldiers on foot patrol in bangui. good news for the city and welcomed by many. they are here to reassure people enough to open up shots. at the moment there's no food or medicine. there is a little the french should do. between growing violence between muslims and christians. we muslims have been here for 200 years. anti-balaka militias killed for than 250 people, this is where many christians are sheltering. >> they are under the protection of french and african forces. there will be another 2,500 african soldiers here soon, heading to different parts of the country where hundreds of thousands of people have lost their homes. too late for the people in this hospital. it was evacuated after attacks by the fighters from mainly muslim seleka groups. the hospital is empty, used to treat hundreds. what happened on friday night and the early hours of saturday is horrific. seleka forces went inside and dragged out injured people, killing at least 10. nine months ago the rebel group seleka marched into bangui bringing thousands of foreign fighters with it. the man that led the rebellion is holed up in the military base and won't accept that power is slipping away. >> how can you call yourself a head of state of a country you have absolutely no control over? >> it's too much to say i have no control. i control my men. the men i can't control are not my men. there is settling after 10 years, all the crimes committed that have been been answered for. >> anti-balaka includes members of the army. al jazeera has learnt that they are now outside bangui, waiting for reinforcements. people here are waiting for the next big battle. this time around the french and african sources have a chance of protecting more bloodshed. >> iran promised to provide logistical support. >> we report on those developments. >> at the end of the 2-day summit the french took the opportunity of having so many african leaders to say on and talk about the pressing subject the central african republic. the head line that came out was to increase the african forces. there were plans for the troop to disarm rebels to get the militia back into their barracks and bases, get the armed men off the streets. in the longer term they plan to work on reducing interreligious tensions. now, part of the reinforcements are an enlargement of the french contingent. president francis hollande announced 1600 french troops in france engaged in hali, in africa. 3,000 troops there and 1600 in the central african republic. in the longer term they want to turn over african policing. for the time france is engaged in two countries for some time to come. >> prayer and remembrance in south africa as mourners gather to remember a man known as madeba. that is quite a scene. we go to a museum dedicated to nelson mandela. it's about history, remembering people, and lessons. we see different generations of people gathering, people bringing young children, those that don't know about nelson mandela and his legacy. they were not there in the '60s, '70s, and '80s, how are they passing this on? >> that's what the next few days is about, letting young south africans know who nelson mandela was, what apartheid was, the changes that came about, about the work that remained. today was a day of reflection and prayer by jacob zuma. in churches and temples across the country services have been held. we are just a couple of miles for orlando stadium in soweto. that'll be the site of a mainly junior memorial service. president obama and other world leaders will attend. on sunday the funeral service will be held. nelson mandela will be buried in qunu, his home village, it was be a small affair. people will learn to educate the yawning as to whoa he was. >> it's are remarkable scope. what are the messages coming in from religious leaders? >> well, you can put it simply. from father sebastian at the largest catholic church in soweto, he told me a couple of hours ago that nelson mandela paved the way. now we need to walk it. his sermon is we can live back to the past, let's take what he did and move ahead. that's a basic message religious leaders are having over the country. here in soweto all the reflection and prayers is manifesting itself in a massive and joyful street scope. we have seep seen parade, dancing and sipping. >> it's quite a scene. a week of ceremonies before nelson mandela's burial next sunday. today is a day of prayer outside of nelson mandela's home. a memorial will be held on tuesday with leaders from around the world, including president obama and former presidents, george w. bush, jimmy carter and bill clinton. >> a map who defended his imprisonment is speaking out about his leg as yip. when manned -- legacy. when nelson mandela was freed he insisted that he serve in the government. we talk about this unique relationsh relationship. >> this man helped to keep nelson mandela in gaol. and then he served under him. it was his task to defend the imprisonment of nelson mandela privately he long lobbied for nelson mandela's release. >> in june 1982 i submitted a memorandum prepared by my department, to the effect that nelson mandela ought to be released. we are making a martyr of him every day he stays in prison. that his international acclaim and status would grow to an extent where we would not be able to handle it. unfortunately at the time it was shot down. >> eight years later nelson mandela became a free man. here you had a man that spent 27 years in prison, and the day the - he displayed the energy to the person who has been a president before. amazing what insight in the minds of people and for that matter into world affairs. >> central to the success of the negotiation process that led to a peaceful transfer of power was nelson mandela insistence that there be no losers, they all be winners. >> we handed over power, but we did not capitulate. you do not capitulate and surrender when you do the right thing. you libberate yourself. that's what we did. it was not a capitulation, it was liberation. >> and a man who said he was liberated quotes from a statement nelson mandela made during his trial. >> have changed the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony with equal opportunities. he concluded by saying it is an ideal which i hope to live for and achieve, but if needs be, it is an ideal for which i'm prepared to die. having fought white domination, aving fought black domination. it was that balance that enabled interests of the country that the blacks need the blacks and the whites needs the blacks. that is nelson mandela. that is his legacy. >> a team of u.n. weapons inspectors arrived in iran to tour a nuclear facility. the first time a u.n. team visited the site in more than two years. president obama said the pursuit of a longstanding deal with iran is as likely to fail as succeeded. forum in washington. iran agreed to temporarily wind back its enrichment which can be used to make a bomb, but also le used in the making of nuclear energy. >> we have to not constantly assume that it's not possible for rain, like any country to change over type of. it may not be likely. if you ask me what is the likelihood for us to arrive at the end state i described earlier, i wouldn't say it's more than 50/50, but we have to try. >> iran, the u.s. and other world powers will meet in the coming days. iran's president said it's a deal and sanctions have already benefitted the country's economy. korea returns home. he speaks after being freed. reunited with his family. >> elian gonzalez speaks out about a request he's making to president obama about his home county, cuba. >> ukrainians ultimate mate um to their president to end the conflict. tñ >> good morning, welcome back to al jazeera america. i'm richelle carey. next, after weeks of being held in north korea a u.s. veteran is home in america re united with his family. in a moment we'll hear from merrill newman. first a look at the temperatures across the county. metrologist eboni dean has that. i'm not the metriologist, but i know it's coal. >> you don't need a scientific background to know you'll feel the chill the minute you step outside. much of the nation below average. it's feeling more like we are in the minus 40s. it's a day where we need to layer up. cold conditions. here across the upper midwest wind chill advisory. here in the north-east, in the 20s. new york watching for snow. long. it will switch over to freezing rain. cold air returning by the middle of the week. >> a veteran held by north korea has returned home to his family in california. north korea detained merrill newman in october while he was visiting his grounds where he fought 50 years ago. >> merrill newman made the trip to north korea, he would not have known awe difficult a journey it would turn outline of the after weeks of detention he's back in the u.s., looking healthy with his wife by his side and a simple message. it's been a great homecoming. i'm tired, bit he was my family. thank you all for the support. very much appreciated. >> merrill newman was a soldier in a korean war. his visit was a long planned vacation. he was no ordinary soldier. this concession video was released, admitting an affiliation to the white tigers. for newman the war was ancient history, for north korea, mill tarized and at the ready to fight imperialists. the two countries hadn't signed a peace treaty and technically are at war. why north korea decided to let north korea go now is a mystery. >>. >> after he's had some rest he'll have more to say about his usual and difficult journey. for now i ask for you to be with him as a family and that you got forget another american held in the cprk. the american caught spreading the word of christian ta. considering the unpredict ability it was never be clear when he let go. >> the senior barack obama administration official said the release was a result of contact between the u.s. and pyongyang. >> a kooub scrp boy caught in a -- cuban boy caught in a tug of war speaks out saying he's happy for his cuban upbringing. >> translation: i have lived happy in cuba for 14 years, let there be no doubt. whoever is interested in this, i'm happy living in cuba. >> elian gonzalez made the comment whilst attending a student conference in ecuador. the first time he left the country since being handed back to his father. he does not forgive his american family for trying to keep him in the u.s. >> the los angeles city council is thinking with new laws in relation to e-cigarettes. >> electronic cigarettes are so popular they are all that this store sells. no tobacco for smoke. it's called vaping. >> it should be viewed as a good thing. it's a step in a smarter direction. >> it was a smart move for him. i tried patches and guns. this is the only thing that worked. >> these cigarettes can deliver nico teep and the active ingredients of marijuana. they are catching on with kids. >> these are nicotine delivery systems with dozens of odds that this is harmless and harmless for those taking in the second hand vapours is small. the los angeles city council passed a law that requires a licence to sell the grets and ban sales on the streets. it's to discourage sales to minors. it's marketed to young people and with flavours like bubble >> regulation is beginning to catch up. three states is treating them like cigarettes. three states are banning them. los angeles is considering a rule banning them where cigarettes would be banned. the "the los angeles times" said there's not enough evidence of harm in cigarettes that restrict them. fear is not a good basis for regulation, research is. until there's more conclusive research government agencies should be aware of overreaction. >> we do not know what the danger ertion of losing them might be, we want to air on the side of caution. >> it's fine to keep e-cigarettes away from kids, but it's feared over-reg u laghts will drive spokers back to tobacco. >> we are trying to get them off tobacco product. government agencies take a closer look at what is coming out of the device. >> remembering nelson mandela, the people around the world remember the late south african leader, morgan radford has a personal story and an interview with his grandson. honouring those that lost their lives, thousands pay respects at the pearl harbour attacks. >> i'm john henry smith, riddle me this - what is the latest team to go four straight b.c.f.? the answer may surprise you. the answer in sports. >> welcome back. i'm richelle carey, these are the top stories. a severe cold snap is gripping the nation. the driver of this s.u.vl was killed when he lost control and slid off a bridge in texas. a major storm is moving eastwards bringing messy conditions and airport delays. a day of mourning in south africa as the nation and the world paid tribute to nelson mandela. his ex-wife winnie mandela and jacob zuma attended a church service on sunday. president obama and bush and africa for mem -- memorial services. peole have been sharing their stories. for some it's personal. morgan radford spent time had his family and will tell us about that. >> that's right. i had the privilege of interviewing nelson mandela's grandson about his legacy. >> in 2012 i interviewed nelson mandela's grand son who went to live with nelson mandela when he was 11 years old. >> before he became president in "93 i stayed with him, basically since "93. >> he told me about the first time he met his grandfather when he was behind bars serving his sentence. >> i was eight or nine. my parents told me we were going to see my grandfather. >> nelson mandela had been moved to a housing gaol. it was in a poor area of soweto. >> when we got to the place, it had a vcr. a beautiful house, as well as a pool. i was like, "wow, when i grow up i want to go to gaol." i thought that's how people lived. i thought i wanted to be like my grandfather and go to gaol, because this is the life. a convict he was not. he laughs about it now, but he said he, like the country was forever changed. >> the legacy is still very much alive in our country. just in a different way. it was a brutal violent system for our system, was apartheid. we are fighting to present a positive image of our country, continent and people. >> that image of africa is what his grandfather tried to redefine. >> you know, he came out of there and he said, "i don't want to take revenge, i want to create peace and move forward, bring development for my people. and so if you look at his legacy, one can say a person with compassion should be able to define what is africa, what do we represent and what is our history? >> that is the task ahead of him as a south african, a young person. >> for me, i'm tping what has been started. >> continuing something for a man whose legacy, it seems is it good hands. >> he has formed a foundation africa rising focussing on the future. >> it was a fascinating conversation. he sounds like his grandfather. what other ways do they remind you of each other? you of each other? >> they are tall. nelson mandela, i walked in the room and he greets me with a, "how are you young lady?", and they sounded so similar. growing up under my grandfather, he said he learnt what he taught the country. on a personal level he taught him what it meant to forgive and rewriting a narrative. it was a powerful lesson we can all learn. >> a car bomb attack on a police station in columbia killed eight people. it happened in a sound south-east of booingo tea. it's suspected that rebel fighters farc were behind the attack. the blast destroyed a police station and other buildings. farc leaders are engaged in police talks trying to end a 50 year war that has taken more than 200,000 wives. >> the latest move in ukraine is tacking the country into crisis. in the past thailand's military may have seized power. we have more on the choice facing the thai military. >> thailand's military on photo opportunities. this parade is part of celebrations for the king's birthday. the military and monarchy two institutions that ruled centre stage and behind the scenes. now people in bangkok are once again are seeing violence like this. the questions asked is thailand's military prepared to stage a kout de ta. >> the thai army hours is surrounded by protest tors. this could be a transformative moment in thai politics. whatever decisionses the army takes about what to do next could be the crucial factor. >> what the military wants is a matter of debate. we spoke to a security official who asked not to be identified and told us some protesters were soldiers. >> did you say some of the protesters are soldiers? >> yes. [ inaudible ] >> back in 2010 during mass demonstrations there was talk about how the military promoted violence and used it as an excuse. >> thailad has changed. we can't go back to the times when the country was control by a small group of people. >> the last time the military grabbed power in 2006 it was centre thaksin shinawatra. it then tried to return it to the people. the current prime minister thaksin's sister tried to amend it. the military wanted it back. >> translation: the army can't put up with this situation. if you can't solve the political problem. >> how likely is it there'll be another coup? >> i kaecannot say. >> the next few months will tell whether the military can march to a diften tune. >> the democratic party protests the ilget massy of the government. pearl harbour was attacked. it was known as a di of infamy. >> the u.s. was pushed into world war ii after the japanese bombed the harbour. >> 70 world war ii veterans gathered. the ceremony was tore the ceremony of the uss "arizona." it sank, killing 1200. >> new concerns for those applying for federal healthcare. officials are discouraging people for submitting the paper applications, worried they would not be processed in time to have coverage start in january. a potentially major breakthrough in a fight against cancer. doctors in new orleans could mean a cure more leukaemia. there's treatment of a gene therapy to alter white blood cells to attack the cancer cells. doctors say it's stunning in tests so far. >> leaders in russia made commitment to help polar bears flif and survive. the five countries manage their habitat. addressing the effects of shrinking vis and increasing industrial interest. joining us is jeff york head of the polar bear conservation program. thank you so much for your time. >> thank you. >> climate change, and industrial interests as well. how are they affecting polar bears. >> basically climate change is pulling the rug out from polar bears. it is also changing the thick possess, making the arctic eye pack less active or stable. >> tell us something we may not know about polar bears? >> for sure. they are really what we call lipidvoys. or fat eaters. polar bears live on fat. their primary pray is linfield. they are specialised. >> what would you say is the projection for the future of polar bears in the arctic. how optimistic are you? >> long-term projections is clear, based on the best available climates, ice. we know by the end of the century, polar bear population across the arctic will de-clicl if we don't take action. >> what can be done along that vein? >> sure, a big thing is nations around the world can take actions between now and the next climate conference in paris in 2015. it will take that global agreement on climate to save the icy poll. in the shorter term we can manage some of the industrial developments that are pushing into the arctic, making sure they occur properly in the right places and in the right ways. managing harvests and reducio co human polar bear numbers. >> can you see more of a conflict between humans and bears? where is it coming from. >> the ice retracts in the summer time. we are seeing the push or bears are having to leave the ice and coming to shore where they are waiting for the ice to come back. being on shore puts them in closer proximity to communities. they'll come and investigate the areas and some of the bears who are hungry and are looking for food. >> hopefully we can reverse some of these trends. >> thank you jeff for joining us. joining us from canada. appreciate it. >> thank you. >> jith -- john henry smith here with sport with an unusual day. we say that every week. >> it was championship day saturday. one day that could send shock waves through the b.c. s and that is the campionship. ohio could punch their ticket to the b.c. s, put hats were centred on. cook tossing to keith. 73 yard touchdown. later cook is at it again, looking for mr tony lifford and find him. michigan 17-0. they cut the lead to seven at the break. early in the 7th. miller left-hand. suddenly this game is up. layer in the third. 24 unanswered points. from there results all the time. ending on a 17-0 run. michigan punches the ticket to the rose ball. knocking it out of the state. >> they were holorring. the buckeyes losing much tiger on tiger. missouri shared the nickname. he fumbled three times, lost two of them. >> mason with 195 yards m auburn led 28-27. adjustments at half time did not work. >> 304 yards rushing. four tvs. auburn 59-42. snow auburn is probably going to the b.c. s game. talking on duke in the a.c.c. title game. the seminoles never lost and have not. finding out legal troubles are over. going for 330 yards. great stories. but no match for the opposition. there's no official 12 championship games, but oklahoma were trying to punch their b.c. s ticket. all they had to do was beat the rival oklahoma. but the sooners had a plan. they can out the goal. in the final minute they go ahead. the schooners on top. now that made what could be matt brown's coaching at the championship game later in the day. sent out in style. flimping. the pack 12 championship, number 12 - with not much of a contest. 133 yard. three scores in all much 38-14. they are rose ball bound. they are back to back. stamford the fifth program. b cs appearances. that is sport. >> all right. hundreds of thousands are on the streets of kiev as protests continue in independence square, and seizing government buildings. the demonstrations sparked by ukraine's decision to not sign up to an e.u. agreement. let's go to key -- kiev where there is r there are crowds. the crowds are massive. way sort of support are we expecting in? >> it is certainly chilly here. i'm not a professional headcounter. but i can tell you that there has been tens of thousands gathering in the centre of the capital today. i'll step ahide and you can look for yourself and see what is going down there. tens of thousands have been converging on independence square, it's has a new name in recognise of protesters demands to bring ukraine back towards independence. it's opinion important protest. people want to see themselves as europeans. what is important is to get enough people out to make president viktor yanukovych understand this is what they want and to sit and listen to them. so the more people they can get the more likely they may be willing to net. if the numbers decline he'll have the upper hand. there's plenty to play for. they are used to this. they are willing to hold out longer yet. >> it is any man's guess whether this pressure will make a difference. is there reason to believe that it will? >> president viktor yanukovych does not have huge popularity ratings. he's gambling on his support base in the industrial heartland. there's a ukrainians that don't speak ukrainian. they rely on russia for their support. and for their trade and for energy. they get the natural gas from the russians. they fear that if they go towards europe, there's a lot of economic hardship ahead with structural reforms and that's why the country is split at the moment. >> okay. you will certainly keep us posted as demonstrations develop throughout the day. thank you robin. >> giving hope after losing a piece of oneself. one organization is give disabled people what they lost. >> the latest on the storm system across the u.s. we'll be hit by the know and ice. that is next. there, you can barely see it. that is the capital building in washington d.c. people are preparing for the storm system. more on the other side of the break. tñ >> welcome back to al jazeera america. just ahead a look at a facility in afghanistan looking to give people a chance at regaining independence. >> snow and rain - where it may fall. it's been a mess. eboni dean has the details. >> conditions will go downhill into the north-east where the cold air is in place. we have been watching the moisture whipping towards the north and east. around d.c. and baltimore we are expecting snow and then rain, especially as we move into monday. being blanketed by the snow. we'll see snow around chicago. it's coming down around indianapolis. it's adding to what is on the ground. >> travel plaps up and down the i-95 corridor. wintry precipitation. keep that in mind. especially further interior. >> thank you. india's ruling party appears set for a crushing defeat. early results show the opposition party ahead. they face growing anger over corruption, growth and high inflation. 30 people are dead, more than 50 injured after a series of bombings. the deadliest attack occurred in northern baghdad, killing nine and wounding four. recent acts of violence reached levels not seen in five years. around 1 billion people in the world see challenges in many areas of the society, including the workforce. it's providing a life line to the disabled. we have the details from kabul. >> few people understand the value of a prosthetic leg. when this man was three years old he played with something shiny. it exploded it took both his legs at the hip. >> he now works making prosthetic limbs for other afghans. >> i make prosthetic legs for other people. i'm proud of it. their life becomes easier. i'm happy with my work. >> he is part of an almost disabled workforce. it could be easy to see the atmosphere as being depressive. >> this is incredible. most here are disabled, proving to patient that they can live positive, functional lives. >> the centre provides physio therapy and treatments for thousands. some lost limbs. others are the victims of accident and genetic disease. >> in a country where able bodied struggled, staff struggled more. >> finding a job, if you are - you have less chance. it makes everything much more complicated. >> the government doesn't offer much help. this is a main hospital. it has 17 permanent beds for people paralyzed. in a cramped dirty space offering a roof over their heads but little treatment. back at the clinic, the facility may not be able to house every afghan that meets it, but their work is a life line. they have a strong spirit in spite of devastating industry. >> red -- more than 57,000 patients have been registered at the centre. we look at live pictures the days of mourning in south africa at losing nelson mandela. today is the official day of mourning. earlier nelson mandela's former wife winnie mandela attended a church service. south africa begins a week of memorial events. look at the picture. a memorial ceremony will be held tuesday with president obama, george w. bush, jimmy carter and bill clinton attending. that will do it for that hour.

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