>> a heated congressional hearing on health care opinion the main takeaway, it could take weeks to fix serious flaws plaguing the website. >> outrage against america, new information suggestion the n.s.a. has been spying on dozens of leaders around the world, and some of them are not happy about it. >> it could soon be harder to get powerful pain killers. the f.d.a.'s plan to step in and reduce widespread prescription drug abuse. >> on the other side of the world, a big push on to protect working elephants that could be out of a job and in danger. pack determine

place. >> the first rounds of finger pointing over the federal website took place. >> they say full tests of the website should have been carried out months i have not advance but began two weeks before the rollout. >> they blame government officials for making last minute changes just prior to launching the site. finally, they say the administration did not allow window shopping on the site, increasing the volume of traffic that caused registration glitches. >> the experts often took a back seat to the republicans and democrats asking the questions.

>> so you didn't test it prior to october 1? >> no,ness. >> when house committee members grilled the contractors about the site's technical problems they heard the problems start at the "front door." >> consumers must pass through this front door. unfortunately, the eidm created a bottleneck keeping the vast majority of consumers from entering. >> the contractors were not prepared for the bottleneck that occurred when thousands tried to log on. >> since then. cms, cgi and other contractors have worked closely together to trouble shoot this front door problem. >> republican lawmakers wanted to know what role president obama played in the rollout. >> you all testified. either you didn't know about these problems or knew about

them and chose not to disclose them. >> we are there to support our client, it is not our position to tell our client whether they should go live or not go live. >> it's a line of questions pressed. >> we want an explanation an how the system will be fixed, what it will cost, how long it will take. >> democrats on the panel spoke out in support of the role, saying the glitches were about the technology, thought policy. >> if we want this law to work, we've got to make it right. we've got to fix it, not what the republicans have been trying to do, nix it and repeal it. >> republican members conducting the hearing questioned by secretary kathleen sebelius was not there. >> some congressional democrats are switching sides in the battle of the health carolout. they say it wouldn't be fair to

enforce the sign up penalty until the website is fixed. seven senate democrats agree. six want to postpone the enrollment deadline and backing a bill that would suspend the fine for not getting a policy. that could give millions of americans more time to sign up. >> some americans who go shopping for health insurance may discover they don't need to buy policies at all. in new york, 15% of those seeking medical coverage there be being redirected to medicaid. new york's insurance exchange is working smoothly and telling applicants with low in comes that they are eligible for state coverage. >> the upset in europe is growing over revelations that the u.s. monitored the conversations of dozens of heads of state. the german chancellor and french president are now calling for talks with the u.s. merkel said trust needs to be rebuilt after new reports claim the u.s. spied on her and 34

other world leaders. we have more from brussels. >> merkel arrived at this summit in angry mood and hinted at long term damage to u.s. relations, not just in germany, but across europe. >> with rewards to the national security agency i have made it clear that spying between friends is upacceptable. i said that in june when he was in berlin and in july and also yesterday in a phone call. it's not about me. it's about the privacy of all german people. between allies, there must be trust and this trust must now be rebuilt. >> other leaders gathering in brussels lined up to express alarm about the latest revelations on the extent of u.s. phone tapping. >> we can't accept this systematic spying. we need to take measures. i don't just mean at a national level. we need to take european

measures, as well. >> there was also this moment from the irish leader. >> i always use this phone in case somebody is listening. >> the white house gave its latest response. >> we are not going to comment publicly on every alleged intelligence activity. we have made it clear the united states gathers foreign intelligence of the type gathered by all nations. >> the french president, who's company was another target for nsa spying is meeting his german counterpart to coordinate a full response to washington. u.s. ambassadors have already been called in. >> this is now extremely embarrassing and damaging. a rift between the united states and europe the like of which has not been seen in recent years. angela merkel grew up under a regime that speed as a matter of course. she might have expected better

from the united states. >> this summit was meant to focus on administration and the economy. it's been overwhelmed by the controversy. western governments always knew that the u.s. was watching its citizens, but the extent of the operation revealed by whistle blower edward snowden has shocked and angered politicians, prompting calls for the suspension of e.u., u.s. cooperation on certain data sharing. washington will have to move swiftly to calm the mood here. tim friend, aljazeera, brussels. >> the french newspaper lemond obtained an internal nsa document showing france has been concerned about possible american intelligence activity for a year and a half. senior officials traveled to the u.s. last year demanding answers over a suspected penetration of president sarkozy's computer network. >> the search continues for two americans kidnapped by pirates

off the coast of nigeria. pirates stormed the ship early thursday morning. one of the kidnapped men is the ship's captain, the other the chief engineer. the pirates released 11 other crew members. piracy has been a growing concern off the west african coast. forty attacks have been recorded this year with 132 people taken hostage. >> two years ago, an american woman and her colleague were kidnapped at gunpoint by somali pirates. jessica was an aid worker in somalia, raising awareness on how to avoid land mines. she was kidnapped and for three months, buchanan and her colleague forced to sleep in the open desert. they were finally rescued by u.s. navy seals. she said she believes piracy should not deter aid workers and others in the region. >> i still think it's really important to continue on in humanitarian efforts. i think what happened to me proves that there is still a

huge need for helping these people, and so, you know, be as informed as you possibly can be. listen to your instincts, ask all the right questions about security and if you don't feel good about a situation, don't go in. >> she wrote a book about her ordeal called impossible odds. >> food and drug administration officials say pain killer abuse has reached epidemic pro pores in the u.s. responding to that, the f.d.a. is taking steps to limit access to some of the most popular prescription medications. the mood is welcomed by those who say easy access to powerful drugs like vicodin has claimed many lives. others say the new changes will hurt patients. >> popular prescription pain medications are the target of a new effort to tighten controls on how doctors prescribe them. the drugs contain hydrocodone, a highly addictive pain killer,

the most widely prescribed in the u.s. it was prescribed 131 million times to 47 million patients in 2011 alone. the decision comes at a time when prescription drugs account for about three quarters of all drug overdose deaths in the u.s. the number of deaths from pain killers quadrupled. west virginia leads the nation in rates. not every welcomes the move, saying tighter restrictions could have unintended consequences. >> by making it harder to prescribe and dispense, our patients are probably going to have a difficult time getting good control of their pain. >> in a statement on thursday, the f.d.a. said:

>> the d.e.a. and department of health have to sign off on the measures before they can be implemented. according to the centers for disease control, nearly three out of four prescription drug overdoses are caused by pain pills. there has been a 400% increase in women overdosing since 1999, and in 2010, 2 million people reported using non-prescribed pain killers. >> a former national guard recruiter opened fire outside a navy base in tennessee.

two reserve members were wounded before other guard members wrestled him to the ground. the injured were shot in the foot and one in the leg. the shooter was a recruiter who had been relieved of duty. >> transportation officials in san francisco are trying to improve safety conditions for bart train workers. >> this comes after months of negotiations and a four day strike by transit employees. during the strike, two workers were killed on the tracks. train operators will have to slow down or come to a complete stop when passing work sites. the train that struck the workers was traveling around 70 miles per hour. the change is expected to cause some delays. >> some areas will be getting their first snow of the season this weekend. >> let's go to nicole mitchell. >> we are getting into that time of year, although a lot of these temperatures are unseasonably cold, so we're running 10 degrees blow average in many portions of the northeast and midwest.

we'll take a look at that. around the great lakes, snow chances this morning. temperatures in the 30's, so overnight is the best time, because the temperatures drop low enough that any rain areas could become snow. don't blame the meteorologist for this cold air. it's been coming in from canada after the last system went through. we have a high pressure in place. around the high pressure system, the winds travel clockwise. as this moves to our north, on the north side, the winds will shift more west to east, and as they do that, especially over our eastern great lakes, that's going to catch that moisture as it comes across the lake. you can see it kind of able to pick up that moisture, redeposit it on land. if it's cold enough overnight, that would be in the form of snow. we already have rain around the great lakes and a couple spots getting snow. we are reporting pittsburgh, you've got a little light snow. through the weekend, we'll have

aresurgence of energy around the lakes so that chance for moisture will continue for us. a lot of that stays into canada, but adding the moisture to the lake, this is where we're going to see the moisture. most of the rest of the country is staying dry, but we have cold temperatures spreading all the way to the south. i'll have more on that coming up in the next half hour. >> it is chilly, but no blame at all. thank you. >> president obama is pushing hard for immigration reform. >> we're going to focus on the debate which hits close to home for so many. >> immigrant workers are dealing with dangerous conditions in one of the most famous cities in the world. >> working elephants could soon be out of a job. why these massive creatures could be left with nowhere to go. >> a possible break through treatment that could keep patients from rejecting transplanted organs without having to resort to toxic drugs. >> toyota with sudden

acceleration problems. i'll tell you how much the car company has to pay.

>> welcome back. president obama has issued a challenge to congress. >> pass an immigration reform bill by the end of the year. speaking from the white house, the president said after the government shutdown, it's time to prove to the american people washington can get things done. >> everybody wins here if we work together to get this done. in fact, if there's a good reason not to pass this common sense reform, i haven't heard it. anyone still standing in the way of this bipartisan reform should at least have to explain why. >> a com presencive senate immigration bill stalled in the house. the president signaled he's no longer tied that bill and might consider a package of smaller bills. >> here are the major sticking points. the president will only agree to a republican plan if it includes a path to citizenship for the 11 million people in this country without legal status. >> republicans want more funding for border security than the

$43 billion increase the measure calls for. the gop wants to find a way to revamp farm and low-skilled immigrant labor programs. >> the biggest obstacle to passing a law by the i understand of the year may be time. the house is only in session five weeks and has a backlog of work due to the shutdown. >> new york city is known for its amazing skyline, but a troubling new study said immigrant construction workers there are dying on the job in disproportionately high numbers. >> a report finds accidents happen on work sites where there are serious safety violations. >> the building boom in new york city has come at a high human cost, construction workers getting injured and killed. a new review of federal figures found the main cause of death on construction sites in the city is from falls. about 75% of those victims are latino americans and immigrants,

but those groups make up only around 35% of all the cities construction workers. five years ago, this man was a construction worker supporting his mom. a fall left him with neck and back injuries so severe he hasn't been able to work since. >> there were safety issues. i mean, inadequate lighting, no place to tie off ladders. >> in spite of safety issues, he stayed because he needed the money. >> the construction field, you've got to get the job done. i mean, if you work for a company that doesn't have a union, the force is you've got to do it, they don't want to hear nothing at all. they just want the job done. >> ricardo gonzalez fell to his death working at this site. labor rights activists say 88% of workers who died from falls here in queens were latino or immigrants or both. >> activists say day laborers and undocumented workers are reluctant to report safety hazards and more likely to work for non-union contractors where

safety violations are more common. >> if they refuse to work and speak out, they risk being september home for the day and fired. >> a new york law holds employers liable for injuries. the law has caused insurance cost to say skyrocket. aljazeera, new york. >> some of the most frequently cited safety hazards are falling on to faulty equipment and failure to use appropriate safety devices. >> it's the final trading day of the week on wall street. we have the latest business headlines. good morning. >> good morning, stephanie. it's hard to know which way things are going to go. stock futures mixed at this hour, markets cooling off after a broad rally yesterday. it's been one of the busiest weeks on wall street, strong earnings pushing higher. the dow stands at just about 15,500. the dow is now 1.5% away from its record high.

the s&p 500 is just a couple points shy of the record high it set last tuesday. it's up 20% this year, so far, the nasdaq starts on the up side of 3900. overseas, in europe, weak corporate earnings weighing down stocks there. big names like volvo and electrolux. nikkei down 3%, hong kong and shanghai deep in the red. investors are getting excited about twitter. we know now how much it will cast you to buy a piece of the network, $20 per share for the long awaited public offering. there will be 70 million shares available. one analyst says buying twitter as an individual stock can be

risky. >> these are littered with tech stocks that didn't survive. that's why you need to own a thousand of them and not just one or two, because if you own a thousand, the one's that do well will compensate for the ones that don't. if you only own one or two you're gambling that you're buying the right one or two and nobody really knows how to do that successfully. >> twitter plans to list its stock on the new york stock exchange. >> auto joint toyota must pay $3 million to the victims of a sudden acceleration crash. a woman was killed and a driver seriously injured when their camry sped out of control and crashed into a wall. the jury found toyota's actions were reckless. deliberation on punitive damages begin later today. >> that's not the first time we've heard of that case. what does this mean for toyota and its investors. >> investors will look at this case closely.

last year, to it paid a billion dollars to settle hundreds of cases involving a recall for the sudden acceleration cases. it's important to note with that settlement, people can still sue for personal injury and wrongful death. >> meanwhile, toyota still is one of the most popular brands for cars in america. >> yes, in fact many people waking up this morning will likely be jumping into a toyota car to head to work. it has three of the top selling cars in america, the camry and prius. >> it wouldn't be the first time it staged a comeback reputation wise. >> correct. some people feel that its reputation because of these lawsuits is a little bit damaged now. >> it's a tradition that dates back thousands of years, working elephants in myanmar used in the nation's lumber trade. the government is now imposing a ban on timber exports. that leaves thousands of elephants in the region with an uncertain future.

>> 36-year-old was originally caught from the wild and trained. now his handlers say he's strong, placid and obedient, ideal qualities for a timber elephant. >> some of them are nice, while others are wild. >> myanmar has more captured elephants than any other country. more than half belong to the timber enterprise. others are in private hands. times are changing fast. from april 2014, log exports will be banned. while that may be good for the forests, the elephants and their handlers face an uncertain future. >> the handlers might be worried, even the government offices are worried.

>> private owners like this man who has 20 elephants are in a dilemma. >> we are in a situation where we have to sell our elephants. if we don't get help, we have no choice, we will just release them into the jungle. >> like in other countries, the elephants could be trafficked, sold, exploited and abused, or if released into the wild, could clash with farmers. elephants are left with a shrinking habitat. one conservationist is concerned about their fate. >> the elephants in the jungle, they are all responsible. >> the big question is whether elephants will remain relevant or be rely gated to tourist spectacle like these.

>> white elephants are considered auspicious, because the buddha's mother dreamed of a white elephant before he was born. here in myanmar, they've been reduced to curiousties. >> elephants have survived wars and dictator ships, now they must survive democracy and the free market. aljazeera. >> there is major concern here, because there's over 5,000 elephants living in captivity and they're among some of the best cared for elephants, so there's concerned if these workers, people who care for them only make $103 a month can't care for the elephants what happens to them. >> what happens to those workers and their livelihoods, as well. >> contractors who created the health care website get grilled on capitol hill. >> a strategist analyzes what

we've learned from the first congressional hearing and if there are any winners or losers. >> world leaders upset over reports the u.s. is spying on them. a closer look at the international outcry. >> the medical break through for organ transplant patients. the new treatment that could make anti rejection drugs something of the past. >> in sports, the cardinals tied things up at one game apiece in the world series. they can thank their 22-year-old kid. we'll have all your sights and sounds in just a bit. >> how old are you? >> nine. >> how old were you when you first started working out here? >> seven. >> fault lines how children are hired by us agriculture to help put food on america's tables. >> in any other industry kids need to be 16 years old to be able to work. you don't see any of that in agriculture. >> they don't ask, "is she 12?". they just want their job done. >> how many of you get up before 5 o'clock in the morning?

>> every sunday night al jazeera america presents... gripping films from the worlds top documentary directors this sunday, a sherrif who implements the law... >> we investigated, arrested and detained 33,000 illegal aliens... >> the young girl who sufferes from it... >> i never thought this would happen to my parents... >> one issue, different sides, yet they remain two americans. premiers this sunday, 9 eastern >> welcome back to aljazeera america. i'm stephanie sy. >> the blame game has begun over healthcare.gov. lay makers chastised developers,

demanding to know why there were so many errors at launch. >> amazon and ebay don't crash the week before christmas and pro flowers doesn't crash on valentine's day. >> the executives pointed a finger of blame as the obama administration, saying insufficient testing before the launch as well as last minute addive changes contributed to the glitches. >> the hearings were not just about the contractors. republicans and democrats used the opportunity to sound off on the website problems and on obamacare, as well. joining us to discuss the debate is a former aid to george h.w. bush. good morning to you. >> good morning with, how are you? >> i'm doing well. four and a half hours of testimony, i'm sure you listened to every single minute. how did both parties fare? >> we didn't make a lot of progress. we still know what we knew

before the hearings took place. republicans do not like obamacare and certainly are delighted to point out the problems with the federal rollout, and democrats are still in defensive mode and want to remind the public that republicans are the ones that bought you all the trouble, nearly brought the country to the edge of default just a few weeks ago and certainly were the ones that caused the government shutdown, so this is the challenge we had. americans are the biggest losers in all of this and sadly everybody's pointing the finger of blame. >> let's talk about some of the testimony here. one of the contractors, cheryl campbell, a senior vice president of c.g.i. federal basically said the system is not working great. does this back the republican argument the affordable care act is flawed and is this to take down obamacare. >> it points out what happens when you have huge national programs and huge national

entitlements and federal bureaucracy. this will be a glaring example of it not working well. everybody he be specked the rollout to be smooth when announced the opening day and sadly, there's been one glitch after the other. you have a mandated program, a program that is mandated for individuals, and at the same time, you can't log in, because of the glitches. it's almost unbelievable that contractors would point the finger of blame back at the government. certainly in private industry, you get paid to provide a product and are expected to do that, and to provide a good product, and you have nobody to blame but yourself. >> we're talking about a lot of money here. does this imply the launch was rushed, the government is simply complacent? there are plenty of government websites working just fine and as the representative pointed out, this would never happen to some of the companies right before christmas.

>> you're absolutely right. there are some websites, government websites working just fine. there's no good reason why this website is working so poorly. i guess the agency that's responsible, c.m.s., that's responsible for working with the contractors, has to bear some of the burden for why this didn't get done properly. then they've got to get about to work fixing it. >> what about health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius? what role does she play in the responsibility here? >> hopefully, the secretary oversee her agency and make sure the folks actually do their job and stay on top of the contractors to get this website up and running. after all, americans have now been extended another six weeks on signing up for the plan, but they really have to work hard to make sure the glitches get fixed quickly so americans can sign up for their health care -- owe.

>> responsible for the oversight of their website, a lot of people are calling for the firing of sebelius, your thoughts. >> everybody wants to play the blame game when things don't go right if that i don't think she ought to be fired. she's got a huge agency for which she's responsible. this is just one small agency within that huge department that she manages, so i don't think it's specifically her fault and she ought not be fired for it. they have to bear down and make sure this gets done. >> after testimony here, americans want accountability. what is the take away? >> the take away is that republicans and democrats have to work harder to work together. obama care is now law, affordable care act is now law. republicans aren't happy about it, but it's the law. democrats might not be saying it's a law, you have to live with it. rather, figure out how do we make it work for americans and

fix what's wrong with the law, be it the individual mandate or employer mandate, fix these things to make it work together so americans are better served. that's the challenge going forward. >> americans deserve better. former white house aid to the first president bush. appreciate your time this morning, good to see you. >> one of the top nuclear scientists in the u.s. says iran could produce a nuclear bomb, and could do it in a month. it says the stockpile of highly enriched uranium has doubled over the last year. meanwhile, the white house is considering losenning sanctions against iran. the president's national security advisor said don't count on that happening without serious concessions. here's what he told reuters: >> one of the most powerful politicians in china has lost his appeal to overturn a life

sentence. bo xilai was convicted last month. he was removed from office in 2012 after his wife was convicted of killing a british businessman. he had only one chance to appeal. his life sentence is now final. >> a kenyan leader charged with crimes against humidity is forced into court. president kenyatta and his deputy are accused of leading a wave of violence. the international criminal court said he must appear for his trial. more than 1200 kenyans were killed six years ago after he won a disputed election. he says he wasn't involved. >> political leaders in eastern libya formed a shadow government as a challenge to the countries interim government. thursday's announcement comes after the region was declared an autonomous state. the movement is backed and its

aim to control the oil reserves. the turmoil cribs two years after the uprising and fall of gadhafi's regime. >> feeling the chill this morning. >> for more on the national forecast, let's bring in meteorologist nicole mitchell. >> it was definitely a morning where you're all snuggled warm under your covers and you're i just don't want to get out from under here. that cold air sinking southward. this has really been some cold air. the only spot left warm is the southwest up through portions of the west. we still have that high pressure in place. because of all the cold air that has sunk through the region, we really have the different freeze watches and warnings well southward. the brighter colors you see in tennessee are hard freeze. that means under those freezing

conditions expected for long enough that any vegetation left outside, crops or plants, kind of it for the growing season. now i mentioned this has sunk southward. in the in the midwest, then the northeast, now you has moved through the south. you can see the dividing line. the front is part way through florida. northern florida in the 40's, miami, key west in the 70's this morning. i guess if you still have those temperatures, be thankful you're not shivering with everyone else. atlanta going up to 58 today. averages are 51 and 71 respectively. that means temperatures are running about 10-15 degrees blow average. now, up and down the coastline, a lot of these temperatures in the 50's, we start to moderate a little into the weekend, under a lot of sunshine for the region. temperatures start to nudge up into the mid 50's, southward into the 60's, minneapolis though, actually goes down with a reinforcing shot of cold air.

you can see, we're still going to get kind of that flow-in from canada and midsection of the country. the one place we have had a little moisture, the four corners region is going to deal with that. temperatures for the south eventually will get back into the 70's, so feeling better. here's that little moisture i was mentioning. this eventually moves into texas. other than the lake effect area, we are almost dry across the country, with the exception of this one little spot out here. it's been a pretty quiet pattern other than the temperatures. i know someone wants to think of somewhere warm to go, maybe los angeles today at 76 can get you away from that. back to you guys. >> some areas still holding on. >> the so-called gender gap is narrowing. a new report from the world economic forum shows women gaining on men in such areas as political participation, economic equality and rights as you have as education and health. the countries showing women making the great evident strides are iceland, finland and norway.

the united states ranked 23r 23rd on that list. although some women have long suspected this, there is now research to back the claim that women are better multi-taskers than men. >> researchers gave men and women tasks simultaneously and found women consistently outperformed men. >> vise, surprise. >> the study's author said multi-tasking is growing more important and very little research had been done on the topic in the past. >> why would you need to research that? the anecdotal evidence is so strong. >> this is a set up. i'm not going there. >> you're not going to fall in the trap. let's ask ross shimabuku what he thinks. >> mmm mmm mmm. game two of the world series, that's a great thing about the world series. the cardinals have the

2020-year-old kid with a perfect 4-0 record in the postseason. what were you doing when you were 22? our stephanie was studying international business at an ivy league school. excuse me. yours truly, studying for the c.p.a. exam in hawaii. michael has a milkshake named after him called the wakawaka. the rookie striking out six batters in six innings of work. he made one mistake. here it is. there it goes. big papi said respect your elders. unloads that hanging changeup over the green monster, both to know up 2-1. the basis load for mat carpenter. here's the player of the game. ties it up at two. the ball gets away from saltalamacchia. tries to get him at third, air mails it, so jay scores to make

it 3-2 cardinals. very next batter, beltran who had to be injected with a pain killer before the game because of bruised ribs deals out a bruise of his own. cardinals even the series at one game apiece. trevor rosenthal, the hold man of the group strikes out to end the game. we have more from boston. >> cardinal team that uncharacteristically made game losing mistakes in game one seemed to have passed that virus to the red sox in game two. specifically, the boxscore said the red sox made two errors on the same play. that was after the catcher couldn't manage a throw that put men on second and third. thursday night, the red sox had errors. >> we feel confident and good about ourselves, because, you know, we know how well we play at home and having the fans on

your side is a big factor. it's like boston playing here, you know. it's kind of hard to play here when you play on the road and you play against everything, the home team, the fans, everybody, you know. even though you have to go out there and perform, execute and find a way to play good baseball. it's comfortable for us to go back home. >> now, as the series moves on, the cardinals might gain an offensive edge with carlos beltran still proving to be an active and productive player in game two despite his rib injury. the red sox manager said he is going to sit one of his big r.b.i. producers, ortiz or napoli, because there will be no designated hitter allowed in the national league park. napoli was singled out, saying that he would not consider putting napoli in at some other position, like catcher. game three will go down at 7:30 from boston. >> nfl, let's go streaking, the

buccaneers have dropped seven straight. newton putting on a show against the bucks. cam threw two touchdown passes, includedding that one to greg olsen. he ran for another. deangelo williams getting his groove on into the happy place as he shakes and bakes his way to get the 12-yard score. panthers spank the bucks 31-13. the radio station in tampa took out a full on billboard that said fire schiano with flames behind it. international relations, i don't know how that's going to go. >> ross shimabuku, thank you. >> it could be a major break through for transplant pages. >> one that would help them avoid risky antti rejection

medication. >> these are poisons we use in the right amount to control the immune system. >> how stem cells are being used to make organ transplant easier to take. >> patrick kennedy opens up about his very personal public battle with addiction and mental illness and the state of mental health care in america. on inside story, we bring together unexpected voices closest to the story, invite hard-hitting debate and desenting views and always explore issues relevant to you.

on august 20th,

>> it turns out that former nsa director michael hayden's private conversation about president obama and the c.i.a. wasn't so private. he was onboard an amtrak train heading to new york when he began chatting on his cell phone within a year shot of former move on.org official thomas see who started doing some live play-by-play on twitter. he tweeted:

>> referring to the c.i.a., he tweeted: >> city officials in sparks, nevada have now released the name of the boy suspected of killing a middle schoolteacher, jose reyes. the seventh grader killed teacher michael landsberry and two students before turning the gun on himself i don't a preliminary autopsy show a 13-year-old boy was shot seven times by police as he carried a pellet gun they say looked real. deputies in santa rosa thought andy lopez was carrying a real a.k.47 assault rifle. they told him twice to drop the weapon, but instead, he raised the gun in a deputies direction. >> a new study out of canada is raising legal and he will goical concerns that show better outcome if people in need of a kidney were allowed to buy one. patients who can purchase rather than wait for one could live

longer and save money in the long run. it looks like there are plenty of people willing to sell one. 54% of canadians would be willing to sell their organs, some for as little as $10,000. selling organs is illegal in the u.s. and other countries. an estimated 4500 people in the u.s. die waiting for a kidney each year. >> for those who receive one, they often live the rest of their lives on prescription drugs to stop rejection of thear began. a new break through could change that. >> when 40-year-old craig was diagnosed, he knew eventually he would need a transplant. >> shows up on an mri and basically, sits on the kidney and wherever the sift is that renders that portion of the kidney useless. >> when it came time to find a

don nor, older brother stepped up. >> we've always had a close relationship. it is a difficult decision, but i don't think there was ever consideration not to do it. >> they found a unique opportunity, a chance to take part in the second phase of groundbreaking clinical crimes here at northwestern memorial hospital, to reach the ultimate goal of the life saving surgery, transplantation without rejection. >> the doctor was a transplant surgeon and director of northwestern's living donor kidney program. for the last few years, he and his team studied the potential of stem cell research on transplantation. >> the holy grail has been to achieve donor specific transplantation tolerance where you don't need anti rejection drugs to control the immune system. >> that idea is being tested by in fusing the patient with stem credibility from the donor. a dual immune system is set up

to trick the body into seeing the new system as its own. >> it creates room in your bone marrow for the infusion of the stem cells. >> the chemo and radiation are part of the strategy to reset the immune system, avoiding the need for anti rejection pills that increase the risk for certain cancers, diabetes and organ failure. >> these anti rejection drugs are poisons that we use in the right amount to control the immune system. >> put all the stuff in. >> taking those drugs for the rest of her life is something lindsey porter has been able to avoid. >> my kidneys weighed about eight pounds apiece. all of my other organs were sort of being crushed together. >> her stem cell infusion allowed her to wean off the anti rejection drugs after only a year. she's been off them for more

than two years. it's a significant financial savings, as well, the average transplant patient will spend $2,500 a month on post operative medications. >> lay down, we'll get a listen. >> for craig and the nearly 100,000 people in the u.s. still on the waiting list, it means a chance at a better quality of life at a greatly reduced cost. aljazeera, chicago. >> in some cases, a person's body may experience a chronic rejection of the transplanted kidney. >> in that case, they would have to go back on dialysis or have another transplant. it's amazing what they go through. >> they're thinking pink for breast cancer awareness month. special lights turned the white house into the pink house. >> more than 230,000 women will be diagnosed with the disease this year. >> saving people who suffer from sudden cardiac arrest is a race against time where every minute counts. >> there is an unusual new

effort in seattle aimed at improving the survival rates, cold hard cash. we explain. >> jami alls is a very lucky man and knows it. >> it's pretty remarkable and i'm super grateful and lucky to be here. >> two years ago when he suffered cardiac arrest, one friend knew where to find one of these, a defibrillator. it zapped his heart back to life. >> it's crazy that this technology even exists now. it was there for me when i needed it and i'm able to sit here and talk to you because all these things happen. >> there are 1.2 million of them in public places across the country, 180,000 more get installed every year. miracles in a box, at about $1,500 each. >> when a bystander has a defibrillator and able to use it before the paramedics arrive, that doubles the chance of survival. >> which is great, of course, as long as that helpful bystander

knows where to find the nearest aed. what you were standing on a street corner and somebody keeled over? how would you know where to look. >> this doctor has launched a scavenger hunt, may heart map seattle. it is patterned after a similar effort in philadelphia. >> do you have an a.e.d. on the premises. >> >> a what? >> contestants go out searching and report every defibrillator they find. >> it was worth a shot. >> there's a facebook page, a twitter identity for contestants to follow, 20 preselected golden a.e.d.'s worth $50 for the first person to find them. there's a nice payoff for the winner. >> the individual or team that reports the largest number will, i $10,000. >> the bigger payoff is the

data, which dr. nicole and contestants hope will create a map. >> it's the only way to do it. you can't have one person doing it. it would take forever. >> the game will be replicate in four more cities next year, something jami supports with all his heart. >> put it on a map, let people know where it is and they can use it, somebody's life gets saved and that's the way it's supposed to work. >> push right arrow. >> aljazeera, seattle. >> what are your chances of surviving sudden cardiac arrest? according to studies, it's about 20% in cities like dallas and pittsburgh. in chicago, new york and detroit, just 5% or less. >> in seattle and the county where the doctor has been conducting his scavenger hunt, it's 50%, the highest in the country. >> you always see them in

restaurants and never think how valuable they are. >> they are life-saving tools, have saved many lives. >> at the end of our first hour, here's what we're following. >> contractors for the federal health care website say last minute changes and the inability to window shop caused registration glitches. >> the german and french government are demanding talks with the u.s. in response to claims about n.s.a. spying practices. >> the f.d.a. is recommending new restrictions on the most widely prescribed pain killer in the u.s. the new rules would limit the number of actiony codone refills. >> how about those carolina panthers? looking like playoff con tenders. buccaneers dropped to 0-7. we'll have the highlights or low lights in just a bit. >> the cold blast through the east coast has now spread to florida. i'll tell you what that means for your weekend plans. >> in our next hour, we dig deeper into the n.s.a. spying scandal. a former official will be here

to talk about the fallout and whether it is helping or hurting the nation's security. >> i feel great about my own personal battles. i would not have been where i am today if it hadn't been for the lived experience of suffering from a miami illness. >> a remarkably frank confession from patrick kennedy about his own struggle with depression and addiction. >> aljazeera america continues in two and a half minutes with del walters. >> you can get the latest news on line at aljazeera.com. thanks for being with us. what happens when social media uncovers unheard, fascinating news stories? it drives discussion across america. >> share your story on tv and online.

(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.

>> growing outrage against america. new information suggesting the n.s.a. has been spying on dozens of leaders around the world and some of not too happy about it. >> a heated congressional hearing on health care. the main take away, it could be weeks to fix serious flaws plaguing the website at the heart of the rollout. >> frankly, we need a check up from the neck up. >> former congressman pat kennedy on the critical state of mental health care in the u.s. >> the ripple effect of detroit's financial hardships as the motor city now facing a growing problem of stray dogs.

>> as european leaders gather in brussels, the french newspaper now regarding that suspicion of u.s. spy activities in france goes back more than a year and a half. in april of 2012, french intelligence officials reportedly going to washington to see if the u.s. played a role in the suspected attack on the computer network of then french president sarkozy. speaking in brussels, the french president and german chancellor say they wanted to meeting by the end of this year to discuss those spying allegations with u.s. officials. >> in washington, white house homeland security advisor says the president has now ordered a review of u.s. surveillance capabilities. we are in brussels where leaders gather today. they came out with a statement warning the u.s. that the spying

allegations could affect future cooperation on intelligence matters. is this scandal now overtaking the summit? >> yes, it has, it's dominated it. they originally intended to come here and talk about the economy, and immigration, which is a big issue, as you can imagine, here in europe, but suddenly, this story broke about the german chancellor, possibly the most powerful woman in the world having her phone tapped into by the national security agency in the united states. this coincided with the beginning of the summit and of course they've all had to engage with that issue. we've subsequently had statements from angela merkel and the president of france, who has also or at least french citizens have been a target of the n.s.a. it has jeopardized trust, i

think most would agree, between europe and the united states and some bridges are going to have to be built in the very near future to overcome this suspicion, which is now dominating between the u.s. and the european union. >> tim, france and germany, now demanding a meeting with the u.s. to resolve this situation before year's end. is this a wrist that can be quickly healed? >> i think it can, but they obviously sense an urgency here, which is why they put a dead line on these talks. what they want is some sort of new convention, on what's permissible and what should not be allowed between countries. they want some kind of no-spy agreement, if you like, and that currently exists, we understand, as far as anything is known for certain in the world of spies.

that currently exists, for instance, between the u.s. and the cult, and i think that germany and france would both like to feel that they had similar immunity. i mean, everyone accepts that there are legitimate concerns about terrorism, commercial intrigue, that kind of thing, but they're worried when it gets down to the personal phones of leaders. >> tim, thank you very much. >> it gets worse. the guardian newspaper reports that the u.s. allegedly monitored the phone conversations of 35 world leaders. documents provided by former contractor edward snowden, among those documents a memo asking the white house, and pentagon to share their contact information to facilitate spying operations. france and germany making it

clear that the u.s., that such activity is now unacceptable. brazil and mexico expressing their displeasure with the u.s. >> former n.s.a. director michael hayden's private conversations aren't so private. he was onboard an amtrak train headed to new york when he began chatting on his cell phone. he happened to be within ear shot of former move on.org official tim matsey who started play-by-play on twitter. he tweeted: michael hayden giving disparaging reports about administration. >> referring to the c.i.a., he tweeted:

>> the first rounds of finger pointing aimed at the health care website on capitol hill, contractors being grilled by congressional panel for errors in the initial launch, including insufficient testing. as we explain, the experts often took back seat to the war of words between republicans and democrats. >> so you didn't test it prior to october 1? >> no,ness. >> when house committee members grilled the contractors about the site's technical problems, they heard the problems started at the front door. >> consumers must pass through this front door in order to enter the application. unfortunately, the eidm prevented the vast majority of consumers from passing through. >> the contractors were not prepared for the bottleneck when thousands tried to log on.

>> since then, contractors have worked closely together to trouble shoot and solve this front door problem. >> later in the hearing, republican lawmakers wanted to know what role the obama administration had in managing the project and whether the site was rolled out too early. >> many critical components developed were overwhelmed. >> you all testified in september and so i mean either you didn't know about these problems or you knew about them and chose not to disclose them. which one is it? >> we are there to support our client. it is not our position to tell our client whether they should go live or not go live. >> it's a line of questions pressed. >> we want an explanation on how this system will be fixed, what it will cost, how long it will take. >> democrats spoke out in support, saying the glitches were about the technology, not policy. >> if we want this law to work, we've got to make it right. we've got to fix it, not what the republicans have been trying to do, nix it and repeal it.

>> some republican members conducting those hearings also wanting to know my health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius was not there. they called her the ringleader of the debacle and want her to testify as soon as possible. she said scheduling conflict kept her away until next week. >> something congressional democrats are now switching sides in the battle over the national health carolout, saying it wouldn't be fair to enforce the signup penalty until the federal website is fixed. now seven senate democrats agree with those republicans. six of them want to postpone the enrollment deadline. a seventh said is now backing a bill suspending the fine for not getting a policy, giving millions of americans more time to sign up. >> appeal denied. chinese court upholding politician bo xilai's conviction

ending one of most politically charged trials in decades. >> it's over for begee lie, the appeals court rejected his plea to overturn the life sentence he was given for corruption related crimes. this means he will spend the rest of his life in prison. the outcome of this trial was pretty much controlled by the central government regardless of the process. this is something that the public here is very much aware of, even though it has been made to feel that the whole process has been transparent. bo xilai being a high profile example of how serious the government is about cleaning up corrupt politicians. not going quietly, he has insisted that he is being treated unfairly and is the victim of political power play. all in all, the chinese public is feeling that until a more reliable system of checks and balances is put in place or into some sort of structure, no

amount of government drama or high jinx can convince them that the anti corruption campaign is working. >> she joins us from beijing. >> the search continues for two americans kidnapped by pirates off the coast of nigeria, storming a u.s. supply ship thursday morning. one kidnapped men is the ship's captain, the other the chief engineer. those pirates release in 11 other crew members. piracy has been a growing concern off the coast of west africa. more than 40 attacks have been recorded this year. 132 people have been taken hostage. >> parts of the northeast are kicking off their weekend with some october snow. for more on that, we turn to nicole mitchell. >> definitely cold out there. now this is mostly around the great lakes, so it's a lake effect snow, but as we're getting closer to when more of us will be seeing it. looking across, you can see around the lakes, it's been more

persistent. what was snow in the overnight periods is starting to warm up morning, changing to rain. we do have a couple bands left into parts of pennsylvania, for example. pittsburgh this morning has been still seeing some light snow, so watch for that heading out the door. it's the temperatures, you need the cold temperatures to get that, so that's one thing. temperatures across the region definitely still in the 30's, and i mentioned pittsburgh, even with the temperature at 35 is cold enough right above the ground that it stays snow, so even when it hits that slight layer that's right above freezing, you can still get snow when temperatures are above freezing because of that. we have this cold air in from canada. this will shift to the south of the great lakes and on the north side of the high, you have more east to west winds. watch for these winds to transition through the day. that means for our eastern,

picks up more moisture. we will have more wind gusts today and moisture. most of that will be rain, but in the overnight period, watch for that to be snow. we have chance of that through the course of the weekend. the cold air spread all the way southward. i'll talk about even parts of florida shivering this morning. >> thank you very much. >> city officials in sparks may now have released the name of that boy suspected of killing a middle schoolteacher. city officials identified the 12-year-old as jose reyes, killing teacher michael landsberry and wounding two students before turning the gun on himself. >> an early autopsy shows a 13-year-old boy was shot seven times by police as he carried a pellet gun. deputies thought andy lopez was carrying an a.k.47 assault rifle that was real. they say they told him to drop the weapon. instead, he raised the gun in the direction of a deputy.

>> a top expert in iran says that country could produce enough weapons-grade uranium to build a nuclear bomb in as little as a month. davidal bright says the stockpile of enriched uranium has doubled and centrifuge's has grown by 7,000. the white house is trying to persuade congress not to stiffen sanctions against iran. >> libyan leaders have formed a shadow government, months after the region was declared an autonomous state. the movement is backed by militias and local tribes. it aims to control the vast oil reserves. the central government in tripoli rejecting it, coming two years after the uprising and fall of muammar gaddafi.

>> the f.d.a. trying to crack down on pain medications. the serious health concern that has them cracking down and tightening the rules. >> it's shocking that our health care system today does not treat the organ of the brain like every organ in the body. >> the member of an american political dynasty talking about the state of mental health care in this country and his own personal battle with it, as well. >> transit officials in san francisco putting new safety measures into effect to prevent another deadly accident with bart workers. >> southwest airlines saying goodbye to bags fly free. i'll tell you why it may cost you more to fly the airline.

>> the most widely abused drug

in the country would lower the number of refills patients could get. patients would be required to take prescriptions to a pharmacy instead of doctors phoning i in. doctors say those rules will hurt those who need the pain killers. >> by making it more regulated and harder to prescribe and dispense, our patients are probably going to have a difficult time getting good control of their pain. >> if approved, those new regulations might take effect as early as next year. >> it was 50 years ago president john f. kennedy signing landmark legislation addressing the issue of mental health. advocates of the affordable care act say the battle is far from over. one pepper who wrestled with his own addiction is patrick kennedy, yesterday kicking off a campaign to refocus attention to his uncle's efforts. he started discussing his own personal issues. >> i feel great about my own

personal battles. i would not be where i am today if it hadn't been for the lived experience of suffering from a mental illness and being in recovery from addiction. i'm blessed to be in recovery, to have the support of my peers also in recovery. i'm excited that i don't have to do this alone in my life, that i've been introduced to a whole new way of living, thanks to 12 step recovery. i am thrilled to be part of a movement where we are trying to bring the civil rights movement into this field of making sure those suffering from brain related illnesses are treated no differently than if someone was suffering from any other physical illness. >> you yourself have suffered from depression and it has been a very public bought with the depression. do you think it's time for the united states to look at depression as a significant illness. >> the brain is part of the

body. how it is that we ignore all these illnesses of the brain, substance abuse disorders, mental illnesses, depression, psychosis, anxiety, whether intellectual disabilities and reimburse in our health care system differently for those illnesses of the brain than we would if those illnesses were from the heart, kidney or lungs is shocking in this day and age. when you consider how important it is that your brain functions well for the rest of your body to function well, why wouldn't we make the the necessary investments to help your brain function better? >> it was 50 years ago this month the community mental health care act, the landmark piece of legislation passed to provide community funding for mental health centers was passed, how proud would your uncle, january f. kennedy be? >> he would be proud that we've really worked to remove people from these custodial institutions where they were

warehoused and treated miserably. now, granted, we're not done yet with this movement, and that's why we're celebrating the 50t 50th anniversary, not only to look backward, but to think about how we move forward now that we have the a.c.e. and parity, meaning brain illnesses need to be treated the same as all other physical illnesses. i think he would smile to know that the work that he started is being carried on, and that it has great relevance to this new movement to redefine health care to include the neck up, and frankly, we need a check up from the neck up. >> congressman, i was going to point out sadly mental health is back in the news. we've had the disturbing number an increase in the number of mass shootings across the united states. the n.r.a. says they are mental health related. does that oddly put you on the same page as the n.r.a. when it

comes to mental health and do you agree with what the gun agency is saying? >> i'll take support for mental health where are its comes. if the n.r.a. wants to have their members support greater funding, so that we can get early intervention for people much like these tragedies have indicated, people have gone untreated, and when they're untreated, these kinds of tragedies take place, not only against other people, but keep in mind, there are 38,000 suicides a year, so most of the violence is towards themselves, those people who suffer from mental illness and both cases can be avoided if we treat the brain like any other organ in the body. >> but specifically, should there be stern warnings now issued concerning the weaning of patients off of these anti depressants and some of the

stimulants that people are taking, rich as ritalin. >> if the science shows that the current protocols for weaning people off is not established, then we ought to establish what the science community says is the evidence base. what we don't need is people judging from anecdotal evidence what is in the interest of the most of the people. frankly, we need to just treat people as they would be treated if they had any other illness. instead, we look at people dismissively and the way we treat them dismissively frankly begets the kind of responses that we've gotten from people. i think we need an attitude change from all of us, and no the look at this as oh, let's give this a quick fix over here and it will solve the problem. that's not involving the problem

is thinking there's a quick fix. we need to do a lot of things that are going to make the world a about he better place. we know how, we just need the resolve to get about doing them. >> with the health care overhaul, more than 2 million people will now get treatment for mental health issues. >> transit officials in san francisco say they are now trying to improve safety conditions for bart train workers. it comes after months of union negotiations and that four day strike by the bay area rapid transit employees. during that strike, you may recall two workers were killed on the tracks. train operators have to slow down or stop when passing a work site. the train that struck the workers was going about 70 miles an hour. that change is expected to cause some delays. >> we turn to business news now, wall street looking to end the week on a high note. we have the business news now. >> that's the hope right now, stock futures not given much

direction. there was a broad rally yesterday. it's been one of the busiest weeks on wall street for corporate earnings, corporate stocks pushing the dow higher, standing at just above 15,500. the dow is 1.5 away from its record high. the s&p is a couple points shy of the record high. the nasdaq starts on the upside of 3900. overseas, weak corporate earnings weighing down stocks there. asia, fears are a credit crunch have traders selling shares. tokyo's nikkei down 50%. investors in the u.s. and around the world are getting excited about twitter.

we now know how much it will cost you to buy a piece of social network. it set a price range for its long owe awaited initial public offering. it could raise as much as $1.6 billion. there will be 70 million shares available. one financial advisor says twitter is adding to the tech sectors investment potential. >> they are young, small companies, building businesses aggressively. if you have a dollar, it's easy to double it. a billion dollars, it's hard to double it. twitter or facebook can double in value more quickly than 8i.b.m. >> twitter should start trading within the next few weeks. >> samsung's red hot mobile division is cooling off. the company's posting another quarter of record profits. its mobile division earnings is

way down from this time last year. sales of the galaxy s4 were flat. >> barney's department store facing discrimination lawsuits. two black shoppers were questioned after making expensive purchases at the store. the store issued an apology and has hired a civil rights expert to review its policies. >> finally, it made a lot more money than analysts predicted. according to southwest airlines earnings report, they could soon charge for baggage fees. >> nobody wants to hear that going into the holiday season. how soon might they start charging those fees? >> the c.e.o. said they have no plans to charge those through next year, but it could all change. >> most airlines charge the fees. >> the only two standouts are southwest and jet blue. this is particularly important for families. when you travel with kids, you need to have extra baggage. you can't do it with carry ons,

so this could at extra weight. >> i have one giant bag that takes up the entire overhead space. that's what i do, thanks a lot, thank you. >> still ahead, the countries angry at the u.s. is growing, angry about its spy practices. whether the benefits of gathering that intelligenceout weighion the cost. >> detroit dealing with bankruptcy, how fiscal problems is causing the motor city to go to the dogs. >> coming up, the cardinals tie things up in the world series. they can thank their 22-year-old kid. >> how old are you? >> nine. >> how old were you when you first started working out here? >> seven. >> fault lines how children are hired by us agriculture to help put food on america's tables. >> in any other industry kids need to be 16 years old to be able to work. you don't see any of that in agriculture. >> they don't ask, "is she 12?".

they just want their job done. >> how many of you get up before 5 o'clock in the morning?

all next week america tonight investigates the campus rape crisis. >> serial rape is the norm on college campuses. >> i know that when i did report, i was blamed. >> then on friday, november 1st at nine eastern, we open up the conversation in a live town-hall event. sex crimes on campus, a special week of coverage and live town-hall on america tonight nine eastern. only on al jazeera america. >> welcome back to aljazeera america. i'm del walters. europe leaders angry over the

u.s. concerning those spying allegations. the intelligence agency, n.s.a. tapping the phones of at least 35 leaders around the world. the incident embarrassed the u.s. and strained relations with its strongest allies. mike viqueira is following our story from washington. >> there is more embarrassments for the obama administration in the angela merkel afar as the documents leaked by edward snowden has produced another bombshell. >> the controversy is growing and so is the rift with a close ally, merkel expressing out rage. >> with rewards to the nsa, i have made it clear to the american president that spying between friends is unacceptable. i said that in june when he was in berlin, and in july, and also yesterday in a phone call. it's not about me. it's about the privacy of all german people. between allies, there must be

trust and this must now be rebuilt. >> at the white house, spokesman jay carney did not deny that spying had taken place. >> what i can't do and won't do is answer every allegation that appears in print about intelligence opportunities. >> the white house tries to limit the fallout. >> the revelations that have appeared of late have obviously caused tensions in our relationships with some countries and we are dealing with that set of issues through diplomatic chan else, but -- and we are also as the president that said clearly and publicly engaged in a review of our intelligence gathering operations. >> as carney spoke, another shoe dropped. the guardian newspaper is out with more from n.s.a. leaker edward snowden, a 2006 memory reveals the n.s.a. has encouraged senior officials in the white house, state department and pentagon to share phone numbers of foreign leaders

so they can be bugged. such rollo des may contain contact information for foreign or political military leaders to include direct line, fax, residence and cell numbers. it cites and example. 200 phone numbers were provided to 35 word leaders, producing 43 previously unknown phone numbers. these numbers, plus several others have been tapped. in other words, they were bugged. in america chem's case, there are unique sensitivities. >> she grew up in east germany. she didn't expect a democratic nation, a closal lil for 50 or 60 years to act this way. >> after spending the day meeting with her counter parts, merkel had more to say. >> we need obviously the intelligence agency to security the safety and security of our citizen business, but once there

seeds of mistrust has not sewn, it makes it more difficult. >> general keith alexander, it is head of the n.s.a. just gave an interview, expressing frustration, accused reporters of selling the documents leaked by edward snowden. he wants to come up with a way to stop the leaks. back to you. >> mike viqueira, thank you very much. as we have been indicating, the reports of the widespread reach ruffling feathers around the globe. here with insight on the problem is the founding director of the national infrastructure protection center at the f.b.i. and tara mauler, a research fellow at the america research foundation. >> do the risks outweigh the regards? >> i think that's really the question has to be asking and i think the white house is asking.

governments have speed on each other always and the question is what's the point of spying on allies. are we gaining intelligence to put to use the costs that come diplomatically. >> would you suggest that instead of asking merkel about how upset she is about the u.s. spying on her, perhaps reporters should say do you spy on the u.s.? >> germany probably doesn't do it a great deal. i think other allies, israel has had a long practice of spying on the u.s. there's spy jonathan pollard that they've been trying to get out of u.s. prison for a long time. france has been active in espionage against the united states. other countries, it's less clear of the history. >> we were talking earlier, this goes back to 1975, the church committee hearings. back then, they found 20 years later that the united states not only speed on its citizens, they gave drugs to one who committed

suicide here in new york. is history repeating itself? >> the church committee is what led to the senate intelligence committee, supposed to create oversight for these matters. i think we'll see some sort of oversight in reaction to this, whether or not that's going to come domestically internally in the united states, from the u.n., we have european countries now calling for action on this. we've seen in europe, they're trying to crack down on privacy rules. this might hurt u.s. companies over there, like google and facebook, because there might be greater restrictions on the u.s. government for countries overseas. there might be back lash in privacy matters and diplomacy. the brazilian visit was canceled. these leaks came through newspapers over in europe as kerry was on his trip in paris and rome.

>> in the 1950's, they gave frank olson l.s.d. he missed suicide. it was interesting to see how times have changed. what were they upset about then. >> in the church committee report, one thing was opening and reclosing mail. now we're talking about tera bytes of data collected and analyzed by agencies, this is purely a technological development. part of the intelligence community response is that in order to grasp this data, they need it in a repository so if they need the information, they can go back in. >> are the reports of the disclosures far more damaging than what is being disclosed. >> i think they're less damaging. tara made an important point, the greatest cost is likely to be for u.s. industry. merkel and other european leaders have to be upset, have to show that they're upset how

to for mainly for their public, their electorate. they've known that the u.s. engages in intelligence for a long time, but it's not something that they hold against the u.s. or say we're not going to cooperate with you on iran policy or syria policy or on trade negotiations. they're certainly not going to cut off cooperation on counter terrorism measures, and those are the things being talked about now, but none of that's going to be real. u.s. companies will face a harder time getting business. cloud computer storage providers, internet providers may have a tougher time getting european customers because of the perception that they're in bed with the united states government. >> you maintain that the government says that there is so much information, you're privacy is protected by volume, and i point out, there are 6 billion text records right now in maryland. nobody is going to go through any of those records, so all of the government's secrets are

hiding in plain sight. does the government have a letting in the stance no. >> it is a good argument. you don't see them making that argument publicly. they seem to be drawing on the need to protect americans after 9/11 and prevent attacks and that's the narrative. there's actually chief technology officer has a great talk that's publicly available on line with slides and goes through the numbers on the data, the amount of tweets that go out a day, the amount of emails, text messages, phone calls. once you start reading that and hear there is a need to use this information, i mean, there's an argument to be made that there's so much information, how will they be able to analyze it or do anything with it if they can't store it. the jury is still out and there's privacy concerns and i'm completely sympathetic to all of those. that is one compelling argument that he haven't made publicly that they have made in some of their speeches. >> yes or no, you're in the intelligence community. do you speak on a cell phone?

>> i was in the intelligence community, yeah, and i send emails all the time, obviously. >> sure, it's a concession to reality of modern times. you have to speak on a cell phone, use email, even if you know you're vulnerable to being speed on. >> thanks to both of you for being with us this morning. >> detroit almost going broke, a surprising group of victims emerging from that city's down fall as aljazeera reports, a lot of people are moving out of the city, but leaving their dogs behind. >> it's a familiar call for help in a city fraught with its fair share of problems, dogs running wild and left abandoned on the streets of detroit. >> marian stafford called the michigan humane society after taking in this stray. she says the owners of the four-month-old puppy packed up and moved and left the dog behind. >> i don't have a lot, but i'll help you, you know, because it's

like a human being to me. >> this is among thousands of dog rescues that occur every year in detroit. during a ride along, we watched this investigators pick up three strays in less than an hour. >> we have to get some information. >> many of them pit bulls or pit bull mitches, that are often used in illegal dog fighting, and then tossed on the streets. a national news report suggests detroit's stray dog population is an epidemic with 50,000 stray dogs on the loose. that amounts to about 362 dogs per square mile. >> we've been doing this for the 25 years i've been here, we've had stray dogs in the city. it's been an issue. if you go out today and drive the city, you're not going to see an overwhelming number of stray dogs and that's what a

number like that would suggest. >> some believe the number of 50,000 is inflated. now the count is on to determine just how big this problem really is. >> there is one right now right over there. this is all just freshly burnt. this was not burnt about a week or so ago. there's running water in the basement, so the dogs come down here for fresh water. >> tom is with the non-profit organization that has taken the task of counting every stray dog in the city. the search led him inside abandoned homes where dogs are sometimes found in packs. >> when we started to count the dogs, we thought the basket of issues is this big. when you count dogs and look to count all the dogs, you get to understand, all of the problems. >> with public safety a concern some believe the solution will come through community outreach and education.

many believe detroit can become the breeding ground for change. aljazeera, detroit. >> dry's economic problems aren't the only reason for the strays. a lot of animal welfare groups say dog owners simply fail to neuter or spay their pets. >> it is still fall in parts of the country, but they are going to be dealing with winter temperatures this weekend. for more on your national forecast, we bring in nicole mitchell. >> a lot of our temperatures this fall have been above average. now we are coming crashing back to reality as a sold snap for us to get back to that. here's the broad radar. before i get to the temperatures, very quiet in terms of other weather, got a little disturbance in the four corners region, some areas of lake effect include the snow that i will get to. much of the country is going to be dry. if you happen to get outside for the weekend, remember your layers and otherwise, you'll probably be ok. that's the lake effect and those are the chances for snow. most of that would be in the

overnight hours and the temperatures are already dropping. with winds starting to orient a little bit more from west to east, especially our eastern, there will be a cold wind, the rain will be cold and a little snow mixing in especially in the overnight hours, like in pittsburgh this morning. we've got a little disturbance, scattered showers, higher elevations, that would be some snow, too, will push more toward texas over the weekend. as i said, most of the rest of the country is going to stay pretty dry. this is our one warm spot. if you happen to be on that trip to vegas, temperature of 80 degrees for today. the rest of the country, much cooler, those cold temperatures have dipped all the way southward so we have 30's, even this morning into the south in places like atlanta in the 30's now, could dip into the 20's overnight tonight. that would put us 20 degrees

below average and well below freezing, so watch out for vegetation that you might have out there. that's why we have so many frost advisories in effect this morning. watch for those tomorrow. a lot of our temperatures in the eastern part of the country, 10-15 degrees below average, slowly warming for the weekend. >> ross shimabuku is here with sports. game two of the world series goes to the place for ribs. >> tasty ribs in st. louis. the cardinals did what they had to do and steal a game in boston. how good has michael waka been? what were you doing when you were 22? del walters was an anchor in kansas city, yours truly studying for a c.p.a. exam. michael has it good. he has a milkshake named after him, wakaw ax ka. striking out six batters in six

innings of work. he made one mistake, there it is, big papi says respect your elders. hanging changeup over the green monster, boston up 2-1. the cardinals had the basis load for mat carpenter. kosma ties the score at two. air mails it into the outfield, so jay hustles home to score. cardinals up 3-2. next batter, carlos beltran dishing out some point, that r.b.i. has them take the lead. evens up the series at one game apiece. trevor rosenthal strikes out the side, that's the end of the game. more from boston. >> cardinals team made game losing mistakes in game one and

seemed to pass that to the red sox in game two. the boxscore said the red sox made two errors on the same 2-1 yielding play in the seventh after saltalamacchia, the catcher couldn't manage a throw on a double steal that put men on second and third. thursday night, it was the red sox with the errors. the series knotted up at a game apiece. >> we feel confident and good about ourselves. we know how well we play at home and having the fans on your side is a big factor, like boston playing here. it's hard to play here when you're playing the road and playing everything, whole team, the fans, everybody, you know, even though we still have to go out and perform, execute and find a way to play good baseball. it's comfortable for us to go back home. >> now, as this series moves on, the cardinals might gain an offensive edge with carlos beltran still proving to be an active and productive player in game two, despite his rib

injury. meanwhile, red sox manager john farrell says he's going to have to sit one of his big r.b.i. producers because there will be no designated hitter allowed in the national league park. ferrell singled out napoli saying he would not consider putting him in at some other position like catcher. game three will go down saturday in boston. >> in the nfl, let's go streaking, because cam newton and caroline in a panthers have won. he threw two touchdown passes, including that one to greg olson. he ran for another. deangelo williams also getting his boogie on. panthers would go on to spank the bucks 31-13.

caroline that has won their last five games, tampa drop to go 0-7 on the season. greg schiano's on the hot seat, a radio station in tampa took out a billboard that said fire schiano with flames all over it. >> that's not good. ross shimabuku, thank you very much. >> still ahead, president obama issuing an immigration showdown. his challenges to congress to make shortia change comes about. >> in argentina, pesticides have been used to make foods bigger and better, but could be creating a whole new set of problems.

on august 20th,

>> president obama issuing a challenge to congress, pass embrace reform by the end of the year, speaking from the white house. the president said after the government shutdown, it's time to prove to the american people that washington can get things done. there are major sticking points on immigration. the president says he will only agree to the republican series of bills if they include a path

to citizenship for the estimated 11 million people living in this country illegally. the republicans want more funding for border security than the $46 billion increase the senate measure is calling for. the gop also wants to find a way to revamp farm and low skilled immigrant labor programs. the biggest obstacle to getting that law passed by the end of the year could be tile. the house is only in session now for five more weeks before beginning its december break and has a backlog of work because of the shutdown. an immigration policy analyst joins us. he is in washington. you say that the president's speech was more of the same and you even call it disingenuous. why? >> one of the most interesting things is this president gives the same talk every couple months and it basically inducing deja vu and pushes the republicans on trying to do a comprehensive bill in the house

of representatives, when everybody niece they're going to do a piecemeal approach. the great thing that the president has done up until this point mainly is trying to stay out of this date to day fray in the senate, led people in the senate get through their comprehensive bill. he needs to do the same thing in the house of representatives and unform, he is not doing that. he needs to day out of the fray. >> the president repeats the same speech over and over again, because the house doesn't do anything over and over again. >> that could be. he doesn't take account of any changing situation. i'm not sure what bubble the president lives in, if he is saying that the house needs to take up a comprehensive approach when over six months ago, they said they weren't going to do a comprehensive approach, but a piecemeal approach and all since then have been piecemeal. >> the white house is supporting

a piecemeal approach, is that what we can expect to see. >> the president outlined after taking swipes at republicans that he wanted to work at this is a bipartisan manner. his message consistently was this needs to go through in a comprehensive manner. i hope it's going to be the president accepts the political reality, but that remains to be seen. what's most interesting is that it's really going to be the people on the floor of the house, departments and republicans working together. the president is really just going to be able to throw speeches and phrases like this from the outside, but not have a whole lot to do with the nitty gritty policy details. >> one of the most contentious issues, the 11 million immigrants living in this country in the shadows, is there any common ground? >> there is a decent amount of common ground. maria santos of the weekly standard came out with a piece in late september where she detailed 26 republicans who want a path to citizenship and

additional total of 84 who want at least some kind of legal status for the majority of them. there's another 20 saying they are willing to consider it. i think there's more room for movement especially among republicans. they're moving in that direction toward legal status at least and potentially toward a path to citizenship. that's something we can build on. the notion that any kind of legalization is dead among republicans is wrong. >> is there common ground on the issue of border security, republicans want it, democrats are not necessarily so hot on that particular topic. >> well, this is something a lot of republicans talk about that democrats don't want it, but the democrats basically caved in the senate version giving the republicans 46 additional billion dollars over 10 years as well as doubling the number of border security agents, putting drones on the border, putting more fencing on the border. i don't think that's a sticking point that a lot of republicans make it out to seem. i think it's just a talking

point. >> thank you very much this morning. >> thank you. >> farmers in argentina accused of using vast amounts of pesticide to get larger harvests and in most cases, often unregulated. it's now appearing to be causing health problems for people who live in the rural communities. >> this man and his wife even grocery store in the country side but won't sell what's produced in local farms. he said there's so much pesticide, fruits and vegetables are unhealthy. he blames his illness on pesticide spraying in argentina's farm belt. >> they took my life away. life is a journey. i know i won't make i until the end. my life has been shortened. >> most of the country side is planted with soy. it wasn't always the case. it was corn and other grains

before as well. people here remember the days when the price of soy was so hi, everybody started planting it. the country was called the bread basket of the world. growing and harvesting was faster, genetically modified seeds and pesticide blends were sprayed on crops. activists say there were no regulations, and those farming methods come at a cost. according to a report by doctors. >> we have to take matters in hand and speak about what's going on. if we don't talk about it, the government will keep signing off on companies that are harming and killing people. >> the report claims blood samples show agory chemicals in children's bodies, saying cancer rates have increased. findings are disputed, because there's no direct link to pesticide use. >> argentina's government regulates spraying near schools

or homes but activists say that's not enough. >> spraying ha has to be controd nationwide. a spying tractor should be one kilometer from homes and aerial spraying banned. >> he has taken the fight to congress. he wants to warn millions he believes they could face health problems if the use of ago degree chemicals is not controlled. aljazeera, argentina. >> monsanto denying reports that its pesticides are causing the problems in argentina. that's it for this edition of aljazeera news. i'm del walters. more headlines in two and a half minutes and 24 hours a day on aljazeera.com.

(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.

>> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ welcome to the news hour. i'm in doha with the top stories on al jazeera. european leaders warning the united states that the distrust caused by the spying could harm terrorist stopping. thousands take to