welcome to al jazeera america. i'm del walters. these are the stories we're following for you. fly high, the winds won't stop the balloons at the macy's day parade from going up. and outrage in egypt, girls as young as 15 getting long prison sentences for speaking their minds. ♪ well it happened the balloons flew in the 87th an you

macy's thanksgiving day parade. the crowds came out and so did the balloons, as you can see. john terrett has been following the parade. john what was the reaction when word went out that the balloons would indeed fly? >> them we reaction here right now is it's a great big sigh of relief. they did it. it happened. another parade has gone out pretty much without hitch. but this morning around 8:00 the person in charge of the parade, came out and said we're flying. and there was a huge cheer that went up. and there are 8,000 volunteers who help out with this event, and they all cheered. it was a bit touch and go. we had this very bad storm that

went right over the top of us last night during the balloon inflation period. there was a lot of rain. but just as the forecasters predicted. it went over, then the temperature dropped significantly. so it's very, very cold right now. but the problem is always going to be the winds. 34 mile an hour gusts. they couldn't fly them. but the police and macy's made the decision and the balloons flew. i was just talking to one of the balloon wranglers, in fact it was our very own tammy. and he is said they flew a bit lower this year. just behind me just as spongebob came around the corner, he veered over badly, went right over the crowd, and it was a

nasty moment, but they man aged to wrangle him back up again, but that's an example of why they take this so seriously. >> and john it is the miracle on 34th street? >> it is a miracle on 34th street and that's where i am right now. this parade started back in 1934. there have been 87 of them. i think they missed two years during the world war years. we had 16 big character balloons, and then i don't thinked that, there were 11 marching bands, 900 clowns, all of whom went to the macy's clown university, would you believe?

so it's been a great success, and everyone is breathing a huge sigh of relief, so we sign off with a happy thanks giving to you del, and all of our viewers. >> happy thanks giving to you too, john. black friday has been shifted forward to today by many stores. we are joined now with more on the rush for dealing. you are at kmart. they opened their doors at 6:00 am, but did the shoppers show up? >> a think a lot of them are uptown at the parade right now, because it a little bit quiet down here. they had about a dozen shoppers lined up right before they opened their doors. they deeply discount electronics at kmart, and shoppers are

shopping for thanksgiving items for dinner. after that it was a little bit quieter. people have trickled in and out, but i imagine more people will be shopping throughout the day as other stores open their doors later on thanksgiving. >> thank you very much, and stay warm. black friday spending is the usual barometer of how retailers fair during the holidays, but with each passing year, they are lesing the importance of black friday. >> reporter: americans are expected to spend roughly $602 billion this holiday season according to the national retail federation, and a good chunk of that money, nearly 11% or more than $65 billion is expected to change hands on black friday alone these two are magicians,

and they know the value of a dollar on black friday. convention shunnal wisdom has it in order to have a good someone, black friday sales have to be strong, yet recent trends suggest that thinking may no longer hold true. >> black friday is important but become frankly a little less important. >> reporter: take wal-mart for example. retailers are going to great lengths to make up for weak demand by cautious shoppers who may be worried about their jobs or who are no longer earning as much as they did. 10% fewer people are predicted to visit stores in november and december than in 2012. technology is also forcing retailers to change their

marketing and retail strategies. >> if we look at the christmas cycle, we have black friday, small business saturday, now we're having celebration thursday, which is everyone is opening on thursday. >> reporter: the list of stores open on thanksgiving include k kmart, old navy, and hundreds of others. >> we know the sales occurring on thursday are actually at the expense of black friday and subsequent saturday and sunday. >> online sales are also weakening the indicators. shopping online is expected to rise to as much as $82 billion.

experts say it's the entire week of thanksgiving, and that means you are likely to get deals without staying up all night. as you heard a lot of retailers are getting the jump on the holiday season by opening their doors today. the real deal, though can be days away, cyber monday. >> reporter: black friday gets all of the attention, for many retailers cyber monday is just as important. >> my guess is we're going to just short of $3 billion this year. >> reporter: this year as usual, brick and mortar retailers are offering specials. but analysts respecting expecting consumers to break down doors rushing to get them. last year americans spent nearly

$2 billion on cyber monday. >> retailers are recognizing that consumers have a great deal of technology in their hands. so they can shop whether they are at work through the internet. they can shop at home. >> reporter: on the go consumers are harnessing mobile devices for the best deals, and retailers are spending big money on building apps. >> because of instant gratification and technology, they are offering consumers text messaging coupons when the client goes into the store and immediately wants an instant coupon. >> reporter: the last few months have been particularly brutal for retailers. many are expecting leaner sales. but retailers are offering free shipping as a lure. >> a lot of the strength in holiday sales these days really does come from those online

channels, especially with mobile toting consumers who are walking arrange stores and trying to figure out the best deals online and in stores simultaneously. >> reporter: analysts say a challenge for retailers now is to keep those clicking customers happy by making sure their orders ship in time for the big day. patricia sabga, al jazeera, new york. >> reporter: financial xrpts say clothes are a good deal on cyber monday, electronics tend to be cheaper on black friday. recently the scene of those devastating tornados, and andy joins us from illinois. the shelter behind you is starting to fill up. >> reporter: it is. they are expecting about 1200 people here. many of them tornado victims.

this is a huge operation and the pastor tells us, they have rounded up an estimated 1200 pounds of turkey. so it all works out. they have this big room here, and another one back there. all of the food was donated by various businesses. and the people making this feast are all volunteers, and there will be some here who will have lost everything in last week's tornados. so the volunteers here say they are working off of their inspiration. >> i have a home. they don't. this was a dining hall. we decided we were going to deck it out for them to really have a nice thanksgiving day, and -- yeah, they need some good memories. >> reporter: and in fact there are several other churches and high schools who are also handing out free thanksgiving meals to folks here, but this is the biggest once. and they are seconding meals out to people who feel they couldn't leave their property.

>> is there a concern who it is the tornado one day, and an the affordable care act the next, that people in illinois in in these areas may be forgotten? >> well, this past week the president authorized federal disaster aid for all of these counties that were hard hit. and just yesterday the chicago blackhawks charities held a big lunch on here, which includes the governor and a representative, and they help raise even more money for these folks. >> andy joining us live from hard hit washington, illinois. andy thank you very much. 14 women in egypt have been arrested for taking parts in protests. among them, seven minors who are going to go to a juvenile detention facility. they were convicted under new laws that ban demonstrations in

egypt without government permission. >> there was an uproar here across the board. people were very angered seeing this 14 girls standing in that cage in the court, and being treated as if they were high-risk krim flals. these girls do belong to a group called the 7-8m movement. it does support the anti-coup alliance and the former president morsi, but before going to school or university they stood in in the streets about half an hour, sometimes carrying balloons with the sign of the anti-coup alliance on it, other days, like the day they were detained, they were forming a human chain. they were sentenced for thuggery, destruction of public property, among other charges.

something the lawyer says they will now appeal, but it raises a lot of questions for many people here, especially that they were detained before the protest law happened. and then charged right in the middle of the uproar that exists in this country because of the protest law. some universities have been in turmoil for quite a while. the anti-coup alliance have been holding a lot of their demonstrations in there. students that support them are holding those demonstrations. they do turn violent once in a while, and today that's exactly what happened. the students spilled outside of the campus, and the security forces used a protocol that is specialed out by this new process law which is to first verbally warn the students to go back inside the campus. the students remained outside, then they used a water cannon

and then fired tear gas. we did hear that was student has died with bird shot. so it is an escalation that keeps going on. and with this protest law it's very difficult to carry out any kind of protest simply because now the students have to go through the dean of the university, and the dean of the university has to ask the interior minister for permission for the protests. so there is a feeling that the government is trying to all-out stifle all voices just at a time when they are going to hold a referendum that promises to be quite a debate here. vice president biden planning a trip to china next week. china declaring that its air defense zone extents over an disputed area in the east china sea. the u.s. became involved when a

pair of american bombers flew threw the air space two days ago. up next, yet another black eye for the affordable care act. the new setback for small business owners this time. other american news channel. other american news channel. >> tell us exactly what is >> tell us exactly what is behind this story. behind this story. >> from more sources around >> from more sources around the world. the world. >> the situation has intensified >> the situation has intensified here at the border. here at the border. >> start every morning, every >> start every morning, every day, 5am to 9 eastern day, 5am to 9 eastern with al jazeera america. with al jazeera america.

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a major part of though affordable care act has been put on hold for a year. the online system for small businesses to buy insurance for their workers just isn't ready. the reason once again is with healthcare.gov. >> reporter: the white house issued a statement saying small businesses would not be able to register their employees until november of next year. administration officials say they are focusing on fixing the website. it's the third delay for small businesses, which were told they

could first start enrolling on october 1st. that date was pushed to november 30th. now coverage for those small businesses would take effect in january of 2015. republicans quickly pounced on the news. house speaker john boehner issued a statement in part reading the president bit out more than he can chew with this health care law, and small businesses are now forced to bear the consequences. the white house announced that small businesses could still purchase insures the old-fashioned way. >> you need to talk to your agent and figure it out. and that adds to a sense of insecurity in this sector. >> reporter: some democrats had a tough time defending the latest sethback. >> disappointment.

we'll just have to get past it. >> reporter: michael glick, owner of the parlor steakhouse in new york says he has lost confidence in the president and the website. >> it is a disaster, and very confusing. it is scaring not only individuals but company. >> reporter: meanwhile a new deadline looms, saturday is the day president obama promised to have the website fully functional. the white house is saying that cite will be ready by saturday. china is spending close to $14 billion to build a railway across eastern africa. breaking ground in kenya. it will extent on to uganda and likely rwanda and south sudan. it's designed to dramatically

boost trade. three teenage sisters say they were imprisoned for up to two years by their mather and father. police say the girls were malnourished and living in unsanitary conditions. the parents now facing multiple counts of child abuse and kidnapping. let's shaping up to be a beautiful thanksgiving across much of the country. when you look out your window, but when you step outside it's definitely chilly, but look across much of the country. not a lot of cloud cover out there. we do have a few lake-effect snow showers along the new york state freeway along i-90. however, take a look at the

coast. last night, heavy rain all along i-95 from maine to the mid-atlantic. conditions improved tremendously during the overnight hours. and now we're dealing with the lake effect snow showers across the great lakes. for the most part clear skies but chilly for most people out there today. 35 in new york city. and 40 in our nation's capital. one thing to talk about is the wind. i'm showing you a pressure map. whenever you see the lines close together that means it is windy, when the lines are far apart, that means high pressure building in 16 miles an hour in new york, but this afternoon conditions will improve tremendously. also going to look at some

chilly weather across portions of the south. these searchtures overall 15 to 25 degrees below where they should be. and it's definitely chilly around the minneapolis area. further south conditions are improving. we're looking at sunshine and a high of 54. if you are in the northwest be careful if you are traveling around this area. we have a dense fog advisory in effect. this is seattle right now. if you don't have to travel, try not to, because visibility is diminished to about a mile. so drive slow if you have to be out there and definitely with your fog lights on. >> thank you very much. and straight ahead overrun with birds on statton island.

i'll del walters. your top stories at this hour. vice president biden heading to china next week in the midst of those territorial tensions between chai and japan, the two nations both claiming islands in the east china sea. problems with healthcare.gov -- is causing more problems. and the balloons are flying in the annual macy's thanksgiving day parade. not everyone happy about turkeys today. new york stat tun island is such place. it seems they are overrun with the birds. >> reporter: they have long been known as the birds americans just can't live without. or live with in the case of this beach front town.

turkeys. wild runs are roaming free here in new york's stanton island. >> they fly right in front of you and hit the wind shield and it's a problem. >> they poop all over the place, and a lot of them are afraid of them too. >> i'm an animal lover, so i think they should, you know, be able to go somewhere that they could run around and be free. >> reporter: the u.s. department of agriculture and new york environmental firms relocated or killed the majority of the turkeys this year, leaving about 25 on the street. a proposal to donate the turkeys to home less shelters is also on hold until the meat with be tested. wild turkeys almost became

extinct in the 1930s, but the birds rebounded and there are now more than 7 million of them nationwide. this flock has called this area home for a decade. >> it was just one woman who kept her turkeys. she had about ten of them. and one day for unknown reasons left them. and then the ten turkeys grew into about a hundred turkeys over a 10-year period. and made this area their home. >> reporter: heather and other activists came together trying to create a solution. >> we built a fake park where the turkeys are. and my colleagues and i were a group of artists and activists and we decided we wanted to design a project to as an intervention in the community. and to try to start a dialogue with the city about how the city

might get involved and help fix the relationship. >> reporter: it's a relationship some residents do not see ending soon. >> this is a part of statton island. it's part of the puzzle, the birds. >> reporter: the fate of the remaining turkeys is far from clear, but hope they will stick around long after thanksgiving. some bakeries and restaurants won't have pralines pecan pies this summer. heavy rain hampered pollination and caused disease. and exports are sup because china is going in thes for pecans. in washington they it will the men nora. thank you for watching al jazeera america.

i'm del walters. "the stream" is next. happy thanksgiving. ♪ >> hey, >> hey, i'm wajahat ali and i'm wajahat ali and you're in the you're in the stream. stream. obesity, so many of us can obesity, so many of us can relate. relate. lisa fletcher is away but lisa fletcher is away but my man my man omar is here. omar is here. you i