Fueled much of that spending, then there is the jobs front. The number of americans filing for unemployment is at its lowest level in nearly a month. The Labor Department says jobless claims fell by 42,000 last week, and when you add it all together, watch the stock market sore. I mean at the end of the month, 2. 5 Million People go off unemployment because it is the emergency Unemployment Benefits program. Will end, thats money really spent every day by every recipient. Plus the jobs we have saved are not necessarily the higher paying jobs. In november, in october for example, half the jobs are created were in the retail sector. Or hotel, and restaurant personnel, not career jobs. And not the best paying jobs. It is immaterial proving not going to be a particular date that we see a turn around, and that it wont be a particular statistic, that tells us what is the turn around. So for more on this economy, lets turn to jim, who has been speaking to shoppers, jim, as always great to see you. What accounts for a rise in spending this Holiday Season . The people we talk about at the kerry creek mall, they tell us that they are feeling pretty good about themselves, feeling pretty good about their job situation, a little more secure now than just a couple of years ago, when the economy has tanked. Some people got up at 6 00 oclock in the morning but of course you talk about the great deals that are people are being offered too. You can see the sign 70 off here. 30 to 70 off. They are not going overboard, they are watching their pennys but they have been cut back either. And thats clearly having ask impact on the economy, fewer unemployment applications whats the employment picture for people there in colorado . That might change, some of the ideas that people have about family security. Come this saturday, 18,000 people here in the state of colorado will be losing their unemployment, and down the road in a couple of weeks, a month or so, about 73,000 people will be cut from those. Thats going to hurt our Unemployment Rate right now, just dropped over the past month, it was just about 7 , it has dropped down to 6. 5 . So we are in good shape, but who knows what is coming down the road. When we see those cuts on saturday. All right, good to see you, thank you. A lot of Christmas Gifts are only now on the way, shipping companies are blaming weather and a boom in on line sales. Now even members of congress they decided that robert good to see what, what is ups saying today. And i quote, ups apologizing. H. The drivers are out making deliveries in pickups and we expect nearly all of the packages will be delivered today. We are making every effort to get all of those packages delivers. The packages have been delivered today. They did not know. Surprising, now, we also talked earlier today to a major shipping and receiving director as a retailer, they say the past few weeks have not been good for fed ex, meaning they have seen loner wait times. They have seen the scanners that are normally supposed to some in and process not show up. Fed ex drivers overwhelmed and then angry customers is a understatement, and then costly to their business they have to deal with all those extra workers. They have e. Fortyfive o. T. Because the shipping companies are not been fulfilling what they told they are going to do. Also on the weather note, we have bad weather, was this person says thats simply just an excuse. Listens to you describe all the issues reminds me of a note from yesterday, saying a driver saying it was a horrible christmas, i have to ask you, robert, is what happened here a fluke or is this potentially a permanent change in Congress Super habits . As you said this is about numbers and the numbers dont lie. The Holiday Season is up 10 . Thanksgiving day, up 21 . Black friday 15 , cyber monday 18 , and green monday tension . And then you put in last week, with an unbelievable surge in ecommerce, with amazon. Com. Actually u. S. Suspects spented what they scal amazon prime, which allowed people to sign up for this Membership Group that gives them unlimited Free Shipping for two day shipping. They stopped doing that because they were concerned that u. P. S. And fed ex wouldnt be able to fulfill the orders and sure enough that turned out to be the situation. Robert what are the online retailers doing do make up for this . I need something, i need a cash card or something . You got it. Exactly, amazon is offing gift carts for neighborhoods in juba that didnt get their package. Income that sent a package via air, domestically, or internationally, and didnt get to their loved one on time that they are willing to look at that decreeuate a refund. If it went via ground thats part of the process, there is no refund on that. Fed ex and understand, both being very apologetic, but no question, people want their packages. Sitting around the try, and you dont have the gift for mom and pa, a little bit of an issue. Great disappointment yesterday for the families and particularly kids that didnt have those gifts to open up yesterday morning. Robert gray in atlanta for u. , thank you. This could be a december to remember for awe eto makers we will look at what is driving auto sales. President obama signed a by parte san deal today while vacationing in hawaii. The bill will roll back some of the spending cuts. However, there will be another round of budget talks after the start of a new year. Lawmakers will be taking up raising the debt limit. Tens of thousands of people are still without power, after a sunday ice storm hid the midwest, the northeast, and parts of canada, in maine, for example, crews are still working to restore electricity to roughly 30,000 customers. For the west, roughly 100,000 homes and businesses are still in the dark. Crews there are also working to bring back the Power ElectricCompanies Say it could be days before everything is back up and running. Power to more than 100,000 customers. Lets get the latest on all of this. Tony, in parts of maine, things are Getting Better there. Things are deteriorating right now. We have snow showers pushing through that will probably last . The next six to eight hours. We do have Winter Weather advisories that actually just were issued here on parts of what is getting into the lake effect snow. So thats going to be an issue. Now temperature wise we are seeing temperatures below freezing, of course we expected that. Tomorrow they wont be much higher. Of course up to the north, we are dealing with colder temperatures, and thats really going to continue. We wont see too much of an increase, maybe three to four degrees. What we rah really concerned about, this is a cold front that is sinking down here towards the south, and with it, it is bringing some very very cold air. So if the power is not up by saturday evening, for example, chicago, only getting to a high of seven on monday overnight lows minus 2. All right, appreciate it, thank you, and with his captors Warren Weinstein makes a plea with a group linked to al quaida. He says he feels totally abandons by the u. S. I am apeopling to you on a humanitarian basis if nothing else, and asking that you take the necessary actions to expedite my release. The 72yearold contractor was in his home in pakistan, when gunman posing as his neighbors abducted him. Al quaida leader says his organization is holding him. Two u. S. Suspects he is being held along the boarder. A former kidnapping victim says pakistan is partly to blame. A key blare, frankly, is the government. They do not control their own territory, this is a safe haven that existed for the taliban, there are also phone operators pakistani civilians been held in this area. Al quaida has said it would free him if they stop zone strikes. And releases al quaida and taliban prisoners. One thing they sort of dont understand and my captors didnt understand, is that frankly americans dont overwhelmingly response to these. They despeed the captors theres a very straight policy that American Government will not pay ransom, and will not release prisoners. He bleeded for the help last year too in this video. My life is in your hands mr. President. If you accept the demands i live, if you dont, then i die. That video and the latest one are both marked with al quaidas made yeah arm, the state Department Says we are working hard to authenticate this later record, but we reiterate that he be released and returned to his family. The white house has said it wont negotiate with al quaida. The United Nations representative says more troops and equipment are expected to arrive in the Central African naming. We are now over 50,000 civilians in our various compounds. J u. S. Consultingba, molcol, and elsewhere. Again, thousands have been kilted in the country. Juba is the capitol,s and the biggest city in this young country. Many families are zillion sleeping at the u. N. Base, now officials are trying to convince people it is safe to go back. To minimize the lewding and the loss that is are being incurred, we have to deploy portions. The army, in a different location now we are trying to disarm. We try also to disarm those who are not allowed to have guns. And so the people go back to their home. This is where many people were killed. Most buildings have been looted. This used to be a super market, theres nothing left. Some of the damage caused by days of fight and still be seen. But parts of the capitol are busy, people are trying to move on. This family wants to go to home to bring back the remains of their loved ones. There is no way. There was fighting, and so there were cut off somewhere. So they met him there. There is still fighting in the unity and upper nile state. The kenyan president and the Prime Minister were in the capitol, trying to broker peace talks. The issues were discussed among others. One is on the decision of honest tillties and the second issue is on the immediate start of talks politically and the third issue is on the detainees who are suspects of the coupe and the humanitarian crisis. For that to happen, the president of south sudan, and his former deputy who he accused of attempting a coupe, need to put aside their differences and compromise. Al jazeera. Juba. Ambassador princeton lineman was an ambassador from 2011 until earl year this year. He says they have a big stake in what is happening there. The u. N. Must protect the people that have come to them for protection. But the political talks will be difficult, and thats where the outside community has to work with the parties, its not going to be just a once all lets get together and talk. Its going to be to find a way to get a constitutional process that these different forces and ambitions can be accommodated in a political way. Central African Leaders have scheduling a et mooing. More conflicting tonight in the investigation into the death of yasir arafat. Palestinian officials have long suspected him of poisons when he died in 2004. A claim israel denies. Found unusually high levels on his clothing and in his remains and a french investigation of his remains also detected the substance. But concluded he died of natural causes. Up next, the u. S. Announce as new plan to fight al quaida in iraq. Plus, the bit coin community, helping to make live easier and the florida homeless shelter. Here is more. Beneath the fluorescentsun in a former meat packing plant is the latest trim in farming. They call it vertical farming. These fields grow on floors on at Industrial Park and farmer john adel and his staff agrees user. My shipping proceed did you say 1500, 2,000 miles to get are. The plant of the indoor as the indoor formers call it doesnt grow corn or soybeans but mustard, high end micro greens on the plates of whitenapkin restaurants. These fish supply the vert liser that number issues the im phil torres. Coming up this week on techknow. Its rollcall for the santa cruz police. Their locked, loaded, armed with a Computer Program that could change everything. We found that the model was just incredibly accurate at predicting the times and locations where these crimes were likely to occur. Alright, where are we going . Put your hands behind your back. Can science predict crime before it happens . Throughout the entire state of utah now able to mary. Four counties were refusing to allow samesex marriages. The county facials warned them they could be held in contempt. The ruling prompted hundreds of same sex doubles to mary this week. The United States is sending military aid to help iraq fight al quaida, the government has been huntings fighters for months now. The province borders syria, and al quaida has become increasingly active there, tom has more on the story. The u. S. Is providing 75 held fire missles, these are air to ground missles deployed on very light turbo prop planes that are being used in operations against al quaida affiliate affiliatec state of iraq. And inflicting very serious casualties against both civilian and military targets inside iraq. The white house, however, cautions that there has been no formal request for armed u. S. Armed drones operating over iraq, nor is there any intention of diverting American Armed drones into iraq. But this increasingly serious security situation, really belies the assurances previously by the white house, that after the withdrawal of allamerican combat forces that the security situation inside iraq is secure. More protest in turkey over a corruption probe that has shaken the government Prime Minister. Hundreds have taken to the streets around the country demanding that he resign. The Prime Minister dismissed the cases baseless, and says he is the main together of the investigation. About half of the ministers in his cabinet including three that resigned last week, for build projects and money transfers to iran. In syria, a symbiotic surrender in exchange for food and supplies, activists say this happened at a rebel town. In exchange, they got food, video of the flag was posted to youtube, al jazeera cannot verify the pictures. For almost a year now, Government Forces have been blockading the town the deal is one of several brief truces in recentnt mos. Meantime, britain is under fire for refusing a United Nations request to take in syrian refugees, the government is also being criticized for how it handled the case of a british doctor who died in custody. Simon mcgregor wood has our report. Mourners came to pay their respects and offer prayer to his family. Hundreds came from man who had gone to syria to save lives and ended up losing his own. His grief stricken family insists he was murdered by the regime. Somebody who has gone out to help the people and the suffering and is treat sod badly by the authorities in syria. I think just the fact of knowing that anybody can go out there to help people doesnt matter it is just so inspiring. And really quite upsetting. Results of a post mar temporary government will be announced late they are week, which may reveal signs of whether he was tortured and how he died. The British Government says it tried hard to get access to him, but all to no avail. The family clearly feel more should have been done to help him. The British Government is also being criticized for another key issue, that of refugees and the fact that so few are being allowed into the u. K. 16 countries have agreed to take a total of 10,000, but the British Government says the focus of the aid should be to help syrias neighboring countries deal with the problem. Its minister for immigration said i believe such initiatives should be our focus. Rather than the resettlement of providing humanitarian evacuation to displaced syrians initiatives which provide only limited relief to the neighbors countries. Critics say it is failing its moral duty, and the latest appeal only called for a few hundred to be allowed in. The pressures on lebanon and jordan are such that we have to be sharing responsibility for actually coping with the refugee flows. Thats why we are calling for the u. K. To participate in a global resettlement program. The British Government is playing tough on immigration, it is a big domestic political issue. Syrian refugees may be paying the price for that. Simon mcgregorwood, london. Nine years ago today a 9. 3 magnitude earthquake off the west coast, devastating the region, in remembrance of the victims prayers were hilted in Southern India today. It is a tradition that has happened every year since. Prayers are offered to the sea with the hope of preventing similar disasters. More than 220,000 people died and millions more were left home legislation from that tsunami in 2004. You know, it could be a december to remember for car sales up next, what got people shopping for new rides and im mark morgan a former nfl quarterback is returning to the big stage and in the process opening his wallet to others that story ahead. Welcome back to Al Jazeera America. Here is a look at todays top stories. An american kidnapped is asking president obama. Just surfaced he urges the sun government to negotiate with his captors. Thousands of homes and businesses in the northern u. S. Are still without electricity or heat, a massive ice storm tore down trees and power lines, leaving nearly half a Million People in the dark. Crews have been working around the clock since to try to restore the electricity. And a spike in holiday sales growth of retail sales was up compared to a year ago, driven by deep discounts and store pro motions and shoppers headed back to stores again today for after christmas sales. Santa may have pack add few cars in the sleighing this year. Early data suggests december could be the best month for auto sales this year. Dealers are pushing those year end sales trying to clear this years models off of the show room floors. They are of