. good evening welcome to al jazeera america. i'm john siegenthaler in new york. filibustered, partisan politics brings a sea change in the senate. the latest on the pollerizing new rules on capitol hill. >> against his will. the american war veteran detained in north korea. new efforts to set him free. >> captive for 30 years - a report on a new case of modern day slavery. >> plus, the kennedy doctors trying to save the president's life at parkland hospital. now, 50 years later, their

emotional story. >> we begin with washington's latest power play, and one party is flexing its muscles. democrats control the senate. they took advantage of it with a rule change. majority leader harry reid triggered the nuclear option eliminating the use of phil busters to block presidential nominee appointments. >> the senate likes to call it the world's greatest deliberative body. after the nuclear option was detonated, changing a 100-year-old rule - the chamber is in danger of a meltdown. >> free to have most of his nominees accepted. >> people should vote their

conscience and on behalf of their constituents. that's what they are there to do. >> the president accused republicans of abusing senate rules. >> a deliberate and determined effort to obstruct everything, no matter what the merits, to refight the results of an election is not normal. >> in the last month there were three votes to the d.c. court of appeals. the republicans blocked them all. part of a trend. the change means a minority of 51 senators can confirm presidential nominees except those to the supreme court. it was 60. republicans called it a power grab. john mccain quoted the words of soint obama in 2005 when he opposed is change. >> if the right of free and open debate is taken away from the minority party, i feel partisan

atmosphere in washington will be poisoned to the point where no one will agree op anything. >> today's move had immediate results. the nomination of patricia millet to the d.c. court blocked. moved forward. fights over judicial nominees are red meat to the political base. with the president sinking in the polls, republicans say the move was an attempt to change the subject. >> millions of americans are hurting because of a law washington democrats forsed upon them. what do they do? cook up a fake fight over judges. >> now, after the one judicial nomination went through on 55 votes. patricia millet for the d.c. court of appeals, there's 51 obama administration official nominees. republicans warn they stand an

even-money chance of taking control of the senate. all bets will be off if that happens. >> mike viqueira at the white house. the filibuster is a strange capitol hill creation that lawmakers loved and headed. randall pinkston has more on its history. >> the filibuster is a strategy used to prevent a vote by allowing a senator to hold the floor, meaning any senator can block a bill. the record fila buster in 1957 was 24 hours, 18 minutes against a civil rights bill. these days senators don't have a right to speak. to stop a filibuster requires a special vote called closure to bring the debate to a fast end. the closure rule was adopted in 1917, at the request of

president woodrow wilson. you will notice for the next 50 years phil busters and closure votes were relatively rare. by 1962 when the nixon administration was mired in watergate. we saw the first spike. 20 years later during the administration of president bill clinton. but the dramaticics increase occurred in the administration of george w. bush. interestingly upped president obama closure votes declined as some of his initiatives stalls. it took 3/5 of the senate 60 votes to stop filibusters. harry reid, a democrat threatened to lower the vote to 51. he took a step towards that goal by challenging the votes needed to stop phil busters, but only

of presidential nominations. >> turning to afghanistan where thousands of tribal leaders gathered to discuss a security pact with the u.s. if approved it could keep 15,000 american troops in afghanistan through 2024. hamid karzai says he does not trust the united states and will not sign a deal until after the presidential elections. >> the president obama demonstration breathed a sigh of relief that the loya jirga in kaboom were getting a look at the security agreement. any reassurance that it was under review was from comments by hamid karzai. the concern is will the agreement be signed in time for the u.s. to move combat forces out of afghanistan and deplay a

stability team in its place. the military is concerned it will not have enough time to carry out the transition. it involves tens of thousands of troops, equipment and support personnel. they want to make certain they have plenty of time to work out the logistics and the relationship necessary with the afghan military, so that it is a seamless transition. there's this consideration. if hamid karzai gets his way, and the deal is not signed into law and enacted in afghanistan until the middle of 2014, the u.s. fools that creates a vacuum of time, an opportunity for people who don't like the deal to make changes to it. the u.s. fears that it may find itself in a position that it did not want to make in iraq which is not have any u.s. forces in custody. that's what they are trying to avoid. >> coming up - i'll talk with a

veteran who has a lot to say about the afghan deal and what it means for american troops on the ground. at the height of the war in afghanistan, the troops worked alongside american contractors who supplied security. they worked for a company called black water. a new book about blackwater is offering insight into the inner workings of america's war on trar. >>. eric prince who founded the company is the author of "civilian warriors", i asked him why he wrote the book? >> i wrote the book to set the record straight on what the company did and didn't do, and why it didn't do things. >> what was wrong with the record? >> it was defined by one event from a media storm from the work the company did in iraq. >> 2007 innocent civilians were

killed. >> there was an unfortunate fire fight in miss ra square in baghdad, yes. >> what was wrong with the record about that? >> to give background colour, it was the height of the surge - 2006-2006 was a voipt time in iraq -- violent time in iraq. a week before a helicopter was shot down. and that morning started with a car bomb, causing the iraqi guards to flee the venue. the call was made to have the people. our guys protected a usaid official to get them out there. they were setting up to block a traffic circle so the fleeing cars could get through. and a car didn't heed the warning signs and kept coming at the convoy. >> your guys opened fire.

>> there was hand and arm signals, lights and sirens, warning signs through the escalation of force per the contract by the state department. eventually shots were fired and a firefight ensued. the guys were delayed because one of the incoming rounds cut the radiator hose, the engine drained and the guys were stuck. >> why does the united states need a blackwater in the iraq war? why did it. why didn't the u.s. military do it. >> they would have. it would have tied done troops from doing offensive missions. blackwater was there playing defense, providing executive security. the u.s. military can do it. >> your company was the winning point for the public fewer yi over the bush administrator's policies in the middle east.

>> it's a war-weary republic. >> mistake to go into iraq? >> i'm not a policy guy. >> you wrote a book trying to set the record strait. you have been critical of the drone policy. what do you think about iraq. >> hindsight is 2020. iraq is lost. the u.s. lost any influence to iran. the thing most of the neighbours in the middle east were concerned of. >> is there anything that the u.s. should have done or you should have done differently. >> when we were in operational control we never got in a firefight. the u.s. approach with shiny vehicles, u.s. suburbans running to the same routes makes it easy it set up an ambush. we take the lowest profile possible when given the choice.

>> you sign agreements not to reveal information. >> there's certainly confidential agreements. >> they cut out about 55 payments of your book. . they did yes. >> if you signed a deal not to talk about it, you mustan upset to talk about it. >> the afterword was written by the first party, not from speaking to me, but what had been leaked by the government. he wove together a story painting a picture of what we did for the u.s. government. >> you didn't thing you were treated fairly, that's the reason you wrote the book. >> it was a political imposition. >> what, who was behind that. why would they do that? >> a war-weary left. it went after the troops. this time it was easier to go after contractors of we were not the largest contractor. we were the middle of the range.

i was the sole owner, former navy seal from a conservative family, our training facility fired a million and a half rounds. sometimes weapons were used to defend the state department. >> good to talk to you. thank you for joining us to talk about your book. >> a misunderstanding - that's what the son of an elderly korean war veteran is all calling the detention. mir ill quinn was pulled off the plane after talking about his military service. >> for north koreans the war did not end 50 years ago. instead the u.s. threat remains imnent. pyongyang's military is ready to fight the author tarian's propaganda indoctrinates sit

accidents. that's the world that merrill walked into. he told hays tour guide about his service. harmless for him, clearly a present issue for north koreans officials. his xans issued this statement: >> the state department responded: >> the united states special envoy made this comments on the detention. >> it's an indication that north korea seems not to be seeking a better relationship with theiates, that they are not taking actions to address our concerns about american citizens held in north korea.

>> north korea impoverished in need of food aid may trade nooum jp for concessions. the government may keep him, imprisoning him as they did, another. >> it's unlikely north korea will free merrill newman quickly. in negotiation with the united states will likely be protracted, meaning it will be some time before he returns to california. >> good evening. we are looking at rainy conditions, strong conditions, in terms of how much rain will be falling across the ohio river valley. illinois is getting a break. we have know coming into the forecast. here towards the south-west arizona, that means flooding for you. the rain coming off the pacific,

we expect to see flash flooding there. it's the cold temperatures that we'll see across the central plains that i'm concerned about, especially by tomorrow morning. take a look at what we have now. we are talking about 20s, kansas, 30s. down here towards the texas panhandle. factor in the wind chill, it's like this. lincoln nebraska, icy conditions in parts of texas. >> thank you. a twitter hashtag is making headlines. african american students at the university of michigan are using it to talk about life on campus. they are not holding back. >> hash tag bbum being back at the university of michigan. in less than 24 hours it became one of the most talked about topics on twitter. >> we expected it to be big

around campus, we didn't expect the national attention. >> members of the black stupid union launched the campaign to focus attention on what it's like to be african-american on the university of mish gan's overwhelmicly white camp pus, a person wrote: . >> i'm lucky i had a positive experience, most of my friends have not. >> race has been a hot-button issue on campus. a frat ernalty set up a -- frat earnty set up a facebook party invitation including racial stereotypes. african american students were

outraged. the fraternity was repry panneded. a case was considered questioning the legality of a michigan law. since the law passed in 2006, the number of black and latino students dropped by a third. the university took to twitter to extent about the bbum hash tag: students we talked to say they are getting a chance, they hope it makes a difference. >> we really want to get the dialogue started and get people talking. that's the first step to change. >> now they have the nation's attention the black student union is trying to build on the momentum. the group is engaging in several event, allowing minority stoonts an opportunity to share experiences.

>> coming up - a story of modern day slavery. three women held prisoner in one home for 30 years. plus - jumbo mistake. a plane, a wrong airport and plenty of questions.

georgi margvelashvili

. you may remember the three women held captive in cleveland for a decade. tonight a new case of modern day slavery. this story is out of england. three women were also held against their will - this time for 30 years. tim friend has the story. >> the police officer in charge of this case has described it as the most serious and worst case of its kind that he has ever speerndsed -- experienced, in terms of how long the women were held - three decades, in

slavery, without close neighbours realising what was going on. it took place in a nondescript house in a london street. 30 years the women were held. they had limited freedom, but it was very limited, and i understand that during that time they were abused physically and mentally. although there is no suggestion of sexual abuse in this case. this is what the police officer heading this inquiry had to say earlier. >> these are deeply traumatised people. it's essential that we work sensitively to establish the facts in the case. when we have, we conducted the arrests this morning. we established that all three women were held in this situation for at least 30 years. >> while the u.k. home secretary, the interior minister in britain, said she is shoged by what she has -- shocked by

what she has heard, she realises that the police are trying to establish the facts. she has represented her determination to stamp out what she described as modern day slavery. >> tim friend reporting from london. >> a head start to holiday shoppings, some stores will open their stores on thanksgiving. many say it's a bad why the. it's a time for family, not customers, i spoke with anthony rirera who worked at menlo park mall. he started changes.org petition to keep his mall closed. >> this is some employees only time to be with family, and be off from doing anything obligatory. you are taxing or devaluing the idea of thanks gaving.

>> we have a quote that told a paper: >> what do you say to that? >> it's a great way to mask the truth - that you are greedy and slapping employees in the face. you are tailoring the schedule for that. we are meeting customer's needs. they don't need to be in the mall shopping. >> you say that, there's probably a lot of customers that show up when the stores open. >> i am sure there are some that go to the mall to my amaze m and perplexment. the fact that you are open and a majority of the people i met think it is crazy. it is. >> so far nearly 200,000 people have signed a change.org petition against keeping stores

open on thanksgiving. >> another battle is heating up in the video game console wars. the xbox 1 was unveiled. sony released a playstation had, saying it sold a million in the first day. the xbox 1 is selling for $500. the sony ps4 about $400. >> on wall street a first. the do you ends the day above 16,000. it hit 15,000 in may, took six years to get there from a milestone of 14,000 because of the economic downturn. mark morgan is here with sports and new developments concerning a floored state florida state football players. >> the story has been

accelerating. we have an update. the woman alleging florida state quarterback jamesin winston assaulted her in 2012 was interviewed by the florida state attorney investigating the case. the attorney, william megs is expected to decide if there's enough evidence to bring charges against jamesin winston. according to a florida department analysis the dna provided by jamesin winston matches the underwear sample of the underwear of the woman. tim jansen, said he never denied being at the scene, but jamesin winston had consensual sex. miami dolphin and rickie incognito agrees to postpone a grievance hearing scheduled for today. rickie incognito is cooperating with the nfl investigators. the hearing will likely be held after wells' investigation is complete. rickie incognito is suspended by the dolphins for his harassment

of jonathan martin. >> michael wiener was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor and died today. he took over and smoothed over a rocky relationship with mlb management in baseball. >> next - the u.s. mission in afghanistan. a veteran joins me live on what the new security pact means for the troops. lost in america. science and technology correspond jake ward on a wayward plan. this is a look at a foggy plaza where john f. kennedy was assassinated.

welcome back to al jazeera america. on this thursday, november 21st, 2013. i'm john siegenthaler in new york. the top stories.

. a new way in washington senate departments use the nuclear option to eliminate phil busters for presidential nominees. democrats say it will fix a broken system. republicans blast it as damaging. an 85-year-old war veteran is meld in north korea. the son of merrill newman says his father was taken off a plane as he prepared to leave the country. >> a new day, a new record on wall street. the day ended the day above 16,000. the high follows better than expected data on unemployment. >> now to the security pact between the u.s. and afghanistan. president hamid karzai says he won't agree to a deal before next year's elections.

the agreement calls for extending the presence of u.s. troops. as many as 15,000 through 2014. following troop numbers in afghanistan is not an easy task. john terrett has a closer look at where the count stands now. >> international troops have been in the taliban since 2001. it's not clear how many foreign forces will remain after 2014. there are under 90,000 current nato troops in afghanistan, coming from 49 nato countries, according to the international security and assistance force which is then known as isaaf. britain, turkey are contributors, but the majority of the troops are from the united states. 54,500 from september, october. down 20% from 66,000 there in

april. the highest number of troops in afghanistan was 101,000 - in 2011. the camera troops sent have been withdrawn. washington will continue to wind down through next year. to around this target figure of 34,000 troops. of which half will be home by the end of 2014, leaving somewhere around 15 to 20,000 troops on the ground, maybe more, a mix of nations, including turkey, that's a muslim country. most of that number of 15-20,000 will be americans. >> john terrett reporting. >> afghanistan war veteran mat zeller was an army captain and worked at the c.i.a.'s afghan debt. welcome, good to have you on the program. when you heard the news about an

extended stay for troops in afghanistan, what was your reaction. >> it was something that i would tell anyone listening. it's been on the table since 2012. i wrote about this during the last presidential election. i thought it was an insult that neither president obama or mitt romney with honest. my fear is that people think they are talking about the end of combat operations. because you bring home the 101st air force division. it doesn't mean that the taliban won't see those people, those that wear the uniform and support people, the taliban are going to see them as targets. they are not going to say because they are not in the infantry, they are not worth attacki

attacking. >> that's what you are herd from george w. bush. >> ha. >> the taliban will look and say there's foreign forces in afghanistan. until they leave we will not stop attacking. >> we are signing on with injuries, and people coming home in body bags. it's not the end of of the war. >> 2024 is the possible date for soldiers to stay that length. >> correct. >> can the u.s. protect its own folks in afghanistan? >> i don't think so. not with that few individuals, we have an advantage. we are dispirit. there's small ir bases. it's hard for the taliban to decide whether to mask forces and attack. with the draw down we'll go down to 10 large bases. if you are an insurgency like

the taliban, you win because you put a force on the battlefield. how you win further is getting international press attention for attacks. if you attack small outposts. it may not make the new, but if you go down to 10 base, if you overrun a marine base, you make the new, that will be the relatedy. >> can you talk about moral. what the moral of the troops in afghanistan. >> a lot of my friends got home from deployment, and they are saying we are basically shutting down bases and consolidating. the moral is low because a lot of gains made during the surge is lost to the taliban. we pull out force, the afghan troops are making deals, saying

we will not leave the base, if you leave us alone we'll take obvious. >> is it a bad deal for the united states. >> the war has been a bad deal. we never went in with an end strategy. if you ask people to define what is victory in afghanistan. the only answer is the defeat of the taliban and al-qaeda. you are defining a victory by the absence of something. it takes one person to say you're the members of the taliban or al-qaeda. if we had all the way back to 2001, the war is won when we defeat the ideology, that's when we have definitively defeated the enemy. it would have allowed the american people to realise this is not something where if you take kabul you have won the war. you have to change the mindset of the afghan people, get the next generalation of afghan children to not choose to embrace taliban and al-qaeda.

you can't just do it with the military. >> thank you mat zeller for your insight. >> in latvia a supermarket filled with shoppers toppled to the ground. six are dead and two firefighters. it was in the latvian capital in the northern part of the count rip. the roof caved in 6 o'clock local time. dozens are feared to be trapped under the rubble. police are using sniffer dogs. two people have been pulled from the rubble. no word on what accused the collapse. speaking of planes, he is one that took a wrong turn. somehow this boeing 747 landed at the wrong airport in kansas, instead of going to mcconnell air force ways the pilot brought it down at jabara airport, eight miles away. he was confused. listen to this recording with

airtraffic controllers. >> the faa will investigate what happened, to do we. science and technology correspondent jake ward joins us. how could this have happened? >> first, let me explain how a plane like this gets stuck. basically the tarmac required to take off is about twice as much as the tarmac required to land. in this case it is a tiny airport. jabara airport is basically seeing tiny business jets. out of the darkness is a 747 dream liner. they touch down, the pilots look around and they have to bring in a truck to turn this big thing around. fortunately by 1 o'clock they

offloaded fuel to make it light enough that it could take off on a run way that is 6,000, when a plane like that needs 10,000 feet. >> these are professional pilots. surely they should have known better. what is going on here? >> what is crazy is in talking to pilots i discovered that it's easy to confuse a couple of run ways. basically there's two ways to get into a run way to make a landing. one is an instrument approach. this is like driving into your driveway via gps. when you divert your gps tells you you have gone the wrong way. the common way of coming in - those typically come in on a visual approach, a handshake between the airtraffic controller and the pilot. the they say, "you have got it." the pilot wings it, flies in via

their own eyes. this may have been a visual problem. he determined that was the runway he thought he was supposed to be on, when he wasn't. >> in talking to pilots there's a lot of airports across the country mistaken for one another. there's fort police next to el paso airport. in connect cut there's an airport across the river. mcconnell and jabara airport are almost identical when you look at them on a map. wind conditions are the same, they are eight miles apart. typically a big carrier like that responsible for this flight has a rule that says you have to use an instrument approach at night. if they didn't have the rule before this happened.

they'll enforce it now. >> that's a large airplane. >> it is a massive thing. the idea of a little airstrip and a huge thing touching down, it's comedy only because no one got hurt. >> thank you. >> can you hear he may be part of your next experience. the government is considering lifting a ban on cell phone calls on airplanes. a decision is expected next month. the proposal allows phone calls once the plane reaches 10,000 feet. next, they tried to save kenned. the doctors in dallas share their story.

>> we have a live picture of dealey plaza in dallas, the site where john f. kennedy was assassinated. journalists are beginning to cover the 50th anniversary of president kennedy's death. to the right of the plaza is the book depository building. the president was taken to parkland memorial hospital. a moment that 50 years later two surgeons never forgot. they sat with heidi jo-castro to talk about the day. doctors ronald jones and robert mcclelland were surgeon at dallas's parkland memorial hospital. friday, november 22nd was a day

like others. >> i heard a tap on the conference room door, "the president's been shot, they are bringing him to the emergency room, they need drz." >> men in business suits parted a way for the doctors. >> i saw mrs. kennedy sitting on a chair outside trauma room one. i was horrified to realise it was what they said it was. the president had been shot. >> john f. kennedy was on a gerny, eyes open. >> i couldn't get gloves, i did an iv in the left upper arm bare-handed. >> robert mcclelland was the first to see the head woundful. >> the back half of the right side of his brain was gone. the lower part fell out from the hole through to the cart. it was obviously a fatal wound. nothing could be done about

that. >> dr jones was asked to deliver the news much. >> the secret service men came up and said "i need to call j edgar hoover and tell him the position of the president", and secret service behind said, "i need to ring joseph kennedy and give them the news of their son", >> ronald jones faced a dilemma jaqueline kennedy asked the announcement to be delayed until after he received his last rights. >> i said he was not doing well, but he was dead. >> he said if thou live eth, i couldn't here him say anything else. >> after that mrs. kennedy entered the room and robert mcclelland witnessed her farewell to her husband. >> she stood for a moment,

exchanging a ring from her finger to the president's finger and a ring from his finger and kissed his right foot and walked out. >> 48 hours later both doctors would be operating on a dying oswald. the men say they did their jobs while history unfolded on the operating table. >> tomorrow al jazeera america will be covering this story in dallas on the 50th anniversary of the john f. kennedy's assassination. >> mark morgan is back with more. >> seems like it will be interesting to see not only what happens, but how quickly. we could have a conclusion soon. >> the woman alleging that florida state quarterback jamesin winston assaulted her in

2012 was interviewed by a florida state attorney, william megs is expected to decide if there's enough evidence to bring charges abeyance winston. according to a florida department of law enforcement analysis. dna provided by jamesin winston matches the dna sample from the underwoman of the woman. jamesin winston attorney jan son said his client never denied being at the scene and had concern sul sex. >> saints chasing the sea hawks. new orleans in atlanta facing falcons that is two and ate. >> drew breeze and company with a tougher game. falcons played with. steven jackson puts the team up 7-0. seven minutes later saints tie up the game. benjamin watson - a one-yard

toss. breeze again, this time he looks for a favourite target. this guy has been off the shot. >> the saints improve to 9 and 2. the final 17-13. >> it's week 12 of the nfl. the new york giants are not out of play-off contention. john henry smith caught up with charean williams and asked her if the giants boys' losers could make the play-offs. >> who would have thought a month ago we'd talk about the giants in this vein. if they win they are tied with the cowboys. in the nfc east these look like teams headed in the opposite direction. the giants are taking the game,

they are saying it's a winner go home, "we have to win", it's the super bowl. the cowboys are approaching this as one of 16. the truth is it's probably a little more important from the giants considering where they have come from and what they have done. the cowboys need to erase that loss. >> talking about a marr key match-up sunday. tom brady versus peyton manning, the two greaters quarter backs. who would you pick for the best. manning is 37, brady 36. they are in the prime of their careers. it's been fun to watch the two guise. it will be the 14 match up. brady is 9-4 against manning. a case could be made for manning with 164 victory. look at brady in the post season

17-7, three championships. a case can be made of a short list of guys that brady is the all-time post-season quarterback. how is that for straging the fence? >> the ravens, super bowl champions are on the ropes. do very have a chance of making the play-offs. >> they have a good chance. they are 2.5 games behind. they are squarely in the mix in the last play-off spart. the reason is that the ravens lost five of the last seven. the next three games are home games. they have a good shot to get this thing done. they have been good at home. they have a lot of home games coming up. >> wes welker - what's the status of his concussion. >> he looks good.

we know he wants to play. he came from new demand and is doing the same things at denver as at new england. it's been a big part of the offence. broncos hope he can play. and he does. >> give me a look at who players us think will get if and those that will not. >> it's hard until you get into the room and hear the conversations. i'm one of the 50 voters. not having taken a lot of time to look at it, who is in the 25, it will be waulter jones. i know it's not a sexy name. look at what he did with his all-pro burst and now durable he was. it would have to be walter jones. the guy that might be left out is michael strahan.

when you look at the lift, he might be left out. he may get in. this may not be his year. >> we have the weather after this, plus whether rumours are true, monty python is returning.

>> it may be the silliest reunion yet, monty python on a back together announcing a series of live programs. this will be the first time in 30 years that the comedy troupe performs as one, fans can expect classic sketches and new bits

from the surviving members. here to talk about monty python is jazz's art and culture contributor bill wyman. can you hear me? >> sure can. >> tell me, what does this mean. monty python has been around for a long time. how does he connect to a younger audience? >> it will be an interesting opportunity to see. it's a little unfortunate because they aren't a live comedy troupe. they have done a few shows, it's not quite what monty python were. it was the use of the video and videos, and playing along with the conventions in the 50s. there's something timeless that seems never to go away. they are not an influential group. it's not like you look at the

comedic landscape. they were a group that came out of britain and took over the english speaking world. i hope this will be a farewell. i think it will give a lot of people a chance to see them. >> >> how do you think they influence the comedy? >> it is an interesting question. there's a guyingantic presence. anyone would say they are in the handof of comedic innovators of the last 50 years. it's hard to look over and say "saturday live" is not a monty python show, and, "seinfeld" is not a monty python show. they engendered respect and intelligence and comedic gifts after the tv show in "the life of brian" and "the holy grail",

stand in the greatest most hilarious comedic movies. they are not really like the beatles. they engendered everything that came offer them. >> bill wyman, great to see you in phoenix. thank you very much. >> hello, for northern texas and oklahoma, it will be an interesting ride on the highways. we are talking about sleet, freezing rain, snow. highway 20, 40 could be slick in the morning. get the weather when you wake up to see what it will be like. temperatures are dropping significantly. we'll go below freezing quickly, as you can see we are looking at snow pushing up towards parts of iowa. it will cause problems. for illinois, rain earlier,

temperatures will drop. a mix of rain in your area in the next couple of of hours. the other problem is a blast of cold air coming in to canada. that's one blast. this is the second, crossing the border now. on-saturday it will make its way to the east instead of the south, across the great lakes through chicago and detroit. on sunday it will be the eastern sea bored. the other problem is not just cold air but the winds associated with it brings the field below zero in some locations. it will be windy. the wind chill will be considerable. take a look at min appo lis. when the system rolls through

temperatures drop to single digits. rain on friday, not bad on saturday. sunday - we'll get a mix of sunshine, snow flurries, nothing of accumulation value, then the temperatures go back up. this is something we'll watch carefully. next wednesday a lot of people will be on the road, travelling. over three million people will be in the skies on wednesday. 40 million will be on the roads. it will down towards the south-east that we think will be a big problem. we are quite a ways out. the forecast will challenge. it will be cold towards the northern plains. we'll watch that towards the west. looking nice and sunny. that's a look at the weather. have a great evening. john has your headlines coming up now.

. welcome to al jazeera america, i'm john siegenthaler in new york. here are the top stories. democrats resorted to a nuclear option to stop phil busters over presidential nom nis. democrats say it will fix a broken system. republicans blast it as damaging. tribal leaders in afghanistan are considering the pact with the u.s. the deal paving the way for further involvement with the country. if an agreement is reached 15,000 u.s. troops remain there through 2024. in latvia, 12 people, including two firefighters are dead after a supermarket collapse. the store is locat i