welcome to al jazeera america. i'm del walters. these are the stories we are following for you. >> me and my daughter will go to all courts all over the world to punish who did this crime. >> yasser arafat was poisoned. kathleen sebelius back on capitol hill. the health and human services secretary facing more questioning about healthcare.gov. and the vicious battles between the individual atlantis and the drug cartels now taking a turn in mexico.

♪ we begin with an al jazeera exclusive report on the death of palestinian leader yasser arafat. he died nine years ago at a military hospital in paris. but now swiss scientists are saying the former plo leader was poisoned. they said the radioactive material was found in his ribs and pelvis, and in the soil near where he was buried. clayton swisher has more. >> reporter: first they found abnormally high amounts in his clotheds. now they have discovered a high presence of the radioactive substance inside his bones. swiss scientists produced this

report after the exhumation order. the arafat family received the results from their lawyer along with analysis from professor of forensic science. >> if i was a judge and jury this is absolutely stone cold certain. it was palonium that caused the death of yasser arafat. >> when they came with the results, when they told me he just died, i will not stop. me and my daughter will go to all courts all over the world to punish who did this crime. >> i feel a bit of relief actually. final closure for me will be knowing who killed him, and the

motive and the ambition behind it. more than 40 years of research have given scientists knowledge of the average levels of pelonium and radioactive lead in humans. >> everybody has a tiny amount of pelonium in their bones. the level in yasser arafat was about 900. that is 18 to 36 percent times the average. >> reporter: and the soil around his body as absorbed his decaying flesh and organs. the report rules out any external contamination, and confirms through dna testing that the skeleton was definitely arafats. the scientists on a scale of one

to six, the data results are at level 5. the -- they were lifted from the stained clothes the palestinian leader wore in his final days. but this latest test was on arafat's flesh and bones. the samples were gathered when his body was unearthed in november of last year. three teams took 20 samples each. al jazeera has released the swiss team's results. a russian team also carried out tests after a last-minute invite from the palestinian authority. their results have not yet been made public. and there was a team in france. the french results remain a secret, but as they continue with the murder inquiry, they now have new evidence. and the looming question is now whether the palestinian

authority shifts the indicate to the international criminal court. perhaps then we will learn once and for all not just who killed yasser arafat but who. >> yasser arafat let the palestinian liberation organization for decades. israel and many western countries viewed him as a terrorist, the u.s. refusing to have any official ties with arafat for decades. in 1993 the plo recognized israel and the palestinian leader shook hand with the israel's prime minister on the white house lawn. his relationship with israel and the u.s. was never smooth especially after the second palestinian uprising that began in the year 2000. by the time he died israel again saw him as a terrorist, and the u.s. scaled back its contacts with arafat. secretary of state john

kerry is visiting israel and the west bank. it is his latest attempt to revive the negotiations there. both sides say the other is to blame for the current state of talks or non-talks. john kerry said that he was optimistic that tensions could be overcome. >> i hope we will continue in the good faith that brought the parties together in the first place. this can be achieved with good faith, with a serious effort on both sides, to make real compromises, and hard decisions. this can be achieved. president obama sees the road ahead as do i. >> and kerry also met today with palestinian leader in bethlehem. >> reporter: secretary of state john kerry is here to try to bring the palestinian and israel

negotiators closer after direct talks started and were relaunched between the two sides since the end of july. it's going to be a very difficult task because so far the pal stinance and israelis have held 16 meetings without achieving any break through. one official described the israeli stance as the worst in 20 years. since these talks began, israel as either approved or announced tenders for building an additional 5,000 new housing units in illegal settlements in the occupied west bank and jerusalem. and according to palestinian officials as well the israelis are being very difficult, they are not willing to make any concessions. they say they want jerusalem as the unified capitol of israel and they don't want to grant the right of return to any palestinian refugee, and they

want the palestinians to recognize israel as a jewish state. they believe all of these krns a non-starter for them. but palestinian president is committed to the nine-month period of talk he agreed to initially, so if the talks fail he won't be blamed for their failure. >> the obama administration says it is now working to fix those problems with the affordable care website. but members of congress still have plenty of questions about what went wrong especially with the rollout. right now the committee is grilling kathleen sebelius. libby casey is in washington. libby this time it's the senate. it's supposed to be safe territory for the democrats but some way with political friends like this, who needs the endnys. >> that's right, dell. she is facing tough questions from this group. the last time she testified before the finance committee was in the spring.

and a democrat warned her that if implementation wasn't done right that the healthcare law could turn into a train wreck. senator baucus is the main architect of the law. but he asked if the website isn't working properly then why not just shut it down, fix it, and then relaunch. she said that wouldn't help anything. people can continue to enroll even as the fixes move forward. and in her opening remarks she said the health care rollout should go forward. >> now some have asked, why not just delay implementation of the new law until all of the problems are fixed? and there's a pretty straightforward answer. delaying the affordable care act

wouldn't delay people's cancer or diabetes or parkinson's. delaying the affordable care act doesn't deplay the foreclosure notices for families forced into bankruptcy by unpayable medical bills. >> and libby there has been a ton of criticism levied at the obama administration for promising americans that they could keep their health insurance. are committee members blaming the obama administration or putting it at the foot of kathleen sebelius? >> they are certainly casting blame around and a republican from south dakota reminded the committee and secretary sebelius of those pledges that president obama made last year, when he said you can keep your health care plan and doctor if you

liked them. now of course the obama administration defends if you had a health care plan in place before this law was past in spring of 2010, that gets grandfathered in, and the letters peopling are getting saying you are going to be kicked off of your plan, that's because the plans don't meet muster and don't have crucial aspects like maternity care. there is lots of blame for secretary sebelius herself including from senator pat roberts. take a listen to his tone, dell. >> your main goal should have been to protect americans, and insure their safety. but in your zeal to implement this law, not warnings, advice, or council would deter you. you said america should hold you accountable, which is why i repeat my request for you to

resign. >> this is somebody that senator roberts have been talk about for a month now. he sum ported her addition to the obama cabinet, but will hearing it from those quarters were certainly not a welcome message, dell. >> thank you very much. democrats and republicans are celebrating victory's in tuesday's elections. but all eyes are on governor chris christie in new jersey and his second-term win for governor there. and the possible run for president in 2016. john terrett has more from new jersey. >> it may have been an off, off year in the election cycle, but there was no shortage of headlines last night beginning in alabama. bradley burn garnered 52% of the

vote, dean young 48. in detroit the former hospital chief and prosecutor mike dougan became the first white mayor since [ inaudible ]. and of the two gubernatorial races of the evening, terry mcauliffee beat his opponent. of course the really big story of the night was here in new jersey where republican governor chris christie won a landslide victory over his democratic rival. the win was so big many people think christie will now top the g.o.p. ticket in the 2016 presidential election.

in his acceptance speech here last night, he governor lambasted washington, d.c. for the way they do business and urged them to see how he does it here in new jersey. christie won't have an easy fight if he does run for the president. a cbs poll published shows that were the election to take place right now, hillary clinton would win by about 4 percentage points. but the big win means he will be taken sere as a senior politician no matter what happens for at least the next three or four years. depending on where you live, dave warren says it could get kind of chilly in some parts of the country. and debt collectors using social media could find themselves in trouble with the government.

that's engaging, powerful, thought provoking... >> there's nothing but hopelessness... >> it's either kill or be killed... >> america tonight, right after live news at 8 and 11 eastern. >> welcome to al jazeera america i'm john seigenthaler, and here's a look at the headlines... >> al jazeera america, there's more to it.

♪ two leaders of vigilantly groups in western mexico now say they will pull back from their battle with drug traffickers, after the mexican government said they would step in and clear the drug cartel. adam rainy reports. >> reporter: this father has become a lightning rod for parishioners calling out for help. he hears horrific stories from

people. for years church leaders have remained relatively silent in the face of drug violence. cortez say it's time for the church to speak out. >> translator: the rise of these offense groups indicates how fed up people are. >> reporter: the people have become so desperate here that the catholic church has released statements that are stronger perhaps than what we have seen from any other diocese in mexico. they said specific criminal groups are responsible for much of the violence and also calling on the federal government to come in and stop the violence now. across from the church is a the city hall. it's where people took cover on october 26th as shots rang out when vigilantly groups tried to march on the drug cartel.

earlier this year, vigilantlies have crossed [ inaudible ] and started to fight back. the major says the town isn't a cartel base, but acknowledges violence nearby. >> translator: we can't hide the fact that there has been a lot of killings. has been a wave of violence between these groups as they fight for territory. >> reporter: this is one of the vigilantly's leaders. for safety's sake we had to meet him an hour's drive from the town. >> translator: if we let these criminals keep a hold on the area, the financial disaster of the entire region will be worse because they took control of all of our packing plants. >> reporter: and if the government doesn't bring the cartel down, he says they will

set up their police force. caught in the middle are people who have been squeezed off of dying farms and hope the killings will end soon. ♪ i'm meteorologist dave warren we are watching the pacific here, philippines getting hit with another typhoon over the next 48 hours. an extremely southern storm here. there it is, as it will approach the philippines from the eastern side there. the wind is over 155 miles an hour and expected to maintain that intensity as it continues to track. timing looks like about friday late morning to early afternoon local time. the wind forecast will be 155 miles an hour. the timing of this storm hitting land will also coincide with the

high tide. temperatures across the u.s. dropping especially in texas. right on the boundary between the warm and cold air, we get the rain or snow. not much snow anymore. it was in the northern plains yesterday. so just talking about rain now. rain moving south. you see the front pushing south. the temperatures have dropped rapidly from dallas to san antonio, we will see temperatures continue to drop by tomorrow morning. first time we'll see freezing temperatures in the panhandle of texas and oklahoma. warm air is getting pulled up ahead of it, not lasting long, though. by the end of the week it is through the northeastern states, and temperatures are dropping as we dry out through the weekend. ♪

taking a look at business news debt collectors who use text or social media to go after dead beat borrowers are being put on notice by the government. it is now considering new rules on how technology can be used to communicate with people who borrow money. regulators will be looking at potential privacy issues. the most anticipated ipo since facebook is almost upon us. twitter expected to set a share price after the closing bell today. the current target is 23 to $25 a share. that would value twitter at $14 billion. keep in mind, twitter has never ever made a profit. the new apple ipad is smaller, lighter, and cheaper to make. it costs about $200 to make, and sets for about $500.

that's about an 82% mark-up. and checking the big board on wall street any blue chips took off right out of the gate and remained strong. the dow up 92 points this hour. that positive feeling comes from some new indications that the fed will hold back on its plans to ease the money policy. an update on that treasure trove of art found inside that munich apartment. charlie has our update. >> reporter: a landscape, a portrait, a self portrait, the true value of this treasure trove is stolen art is just coming to light. among the 1,400 works found, some the world never new existed like this peace by mark shagal, often called the quintessential

jewish artist of the 21st century. german authorities evaded questions as why it has taken more than a year to make the find public. >> when you are standing in front of these works which for a long time were believed to have disappeared or be destroyed, it is an incredible feeling of joy. they are in relatively good condition. some are dirty but not damaged. >> reporter: discovered by custom officials last march, the owner inherited the collection from his father who was recruited by the nazis to sell so-called degenerate art, but also brought privately. jewish collectors were forced to sell their art at reduced prices or have them confiscated. but the discovery poses a moral

and legal mind field for german authorities as claims for the paintings will come flooding in. >> the people who deal in this kind of art will be fighting each other like ferrets in a sack. partly to get their hands on them, and others to protect their own interests. >> reporter: some art experts say that this horde is just the tip of the iceberg, judging by the number of owners and desen acts still trying to recover that property. it drives discussion across america. >> share your story on tv and online.

♪ welcome back to al jazeera america. i'm del walters. here is a look at your top starries. after years of speculation, scientists have now confirmed that yasser arafat was poisoned. a swiss team finding 18 times the normal levels of pelonium in

his remains. secretary of state john kerry is pushing for the peace process again. kerry said he is confident that progress can be made. and in washington health and human service secretary, kathleen sebelius is before congress again. this time it is the senate finance committee asking about the bumpy rollout of obamacare. sebelius has found tough sledding even in the congress. women's rights groups in nepal are fighting an uphill battle against diskr diskrim -- discrimination. >> reporter: for five days every month this girl has to come to this shed underneath her house to sleep. menstruating women are not allowed to sleep in their housing because people consider them unclean. >> translator: the older generation say that the tigers

will come. they say that the gods will be angry. >> reporter: many consider menstruating women to be impure and intouchable. this shed is absolutely tiny. it's impossible to stand straight. you can touch both walls with your hands and this is supposed to be one of the biggest sheds. it's absolutely dark over here once you close this door. it's what happens in the mark that she is afraid of. many women have been raped many others have died. some bitten by snakes and others from asphyxiation after lighting fires to stay warm. a few hours down the road is the house of a family who's 14-year-old daughter was found dead in the shed. >> translator: some way it was the lax of oxygen, some say it

was because of the cold. >> reporter: 90% of villagers still abide by the traditional rules, but there are villages that are trying to change that. in this village last year the men and women decided they needed to stop this tradition. they met with a lot of criticism. >> translator: after we boycotted the tradition during monsoon we had a problem. it rained all around us, but did not rain in our village. >> translator: it rained after a month, then i told people you said it would not rain, but it did. >> translator: there are woman who may be eaten think tigers. we have to warn them. >> reporter: this used to be a community menstrual shed. the women have kept this one to remember how they spent many years suffering.

i'm del walters. thanks for watching. "the stream" is next. ♪ >> hi, i'm lisa fletcher, and you're in "the stream." 24 city schools are shut up to and thousands of staffers out of work. what's the future of public education in philadelphia? our digital producer is here, and he's got your live feedback throughout the entire show, so keep feeding him for the next half hour. we're not talking about chump change, a $300 million shortfall. >> this is aving future