would be growing to an extent where we would not be able to handle it any longer. unfortunately, at that time, it was jordan. >> it was eight years later that nelson mandela became a grow man. >> you add a man that spent 27 years in prison, and the day he was released, he displayed the acumen and energy to the person who has been a president the before. amazing. amazing what insight he had in the minds of people, and for that matter, into world affairs. >> and central to the success of the negotiation process that led

to a peaceful transfer of power was mandela's insistence that all could win. >> we handed over power, but we were not capitulating. you do not capitulate and surrender when you do the right thing. you liberate yourself. that's what we he did. it was not a capitulation, it was liberation. >> and a man whohj÷ says he was liberated from a statement nelson mandela made during his trial all those years ago. >> i have cherished the idea of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harm knee with equal opportunities. that he concluded by saying it

is an ideal which i hope to live for and achieve, but if need be, it is an ideal for which i am prepared to die having fought white domination, having fought black domination, it was that balance that enabled him to see that it was in the interest of this country that the blacks need the whites and the whites need the blacks. that is mandela. that is his legacy. >> well said. the organization led the american movement to fight apartheid. i had a chance to speak to the organization's current president about mandelle la's legacy.

>> i think there are two prevailing issues that he dealt with, injustice. the fact that apartheid was supported was unjust. he stood as a symbol as someone who would stand for justice at all costs. reconciliation is something that he leaves with us as well, that you must tell the truth, everybody deserves justice. also, we do need to put aside our differences and do the very best that we can as individuals. i think what he showed was he did give his very, very best. the nation was born in part for that. for americans, i think it's such a lesson of power we have to change policies when we disagree with them. >> talk about your work, transafrica's work during that time.

>> it's so interesting, because for so many people, especially young people they figured it was a fait accompli and it would just happen. that was not the case. when we were founded in 1977, apartheid was one of the issues we were very concerned with. as transafrica began at a ache on the apartheid system in terms of now the u.s. government was in support, we came up against many road blocks in congress. certainly president reagan was not in support of our work, for example, to help the u.s. in terms of the sanctions movement, that we do the right thing around apartheid. mandela, he's with the a.n.c., and some considered that to be a

terrorist organization. we had solidarity with people on the ground. we saw an opportunity to make sure that the u.s. embodied the best of its values as it related to africa and that was to make sure that we did not continue to support apartheid. >> tell us about his influence on the united states policy. >> he did not abandon friends. for example, something that i know president clinton has talked about, he always disagreed with president mandela on the issue of cuba and on his relationship with fidel castro. president mandela was not one to forget his friends. he also had such an impact on the african union and creation of the african union, making sure the countries in africa could stand together and do what was in the best interest of their people. sometimes that would not be necessarily what was in the best interest of our countries. he really works to make sure that it wasn't just the people

of south africa has benefited from the struggle but that all people around the planet really knew that it was possible, you can make the impossible possible, that is what happened and to me what his life embodied. >> nicole, thank you for your time today. >> thank you, thank you. >> a cold snap is paralyzing travel both opt the roads and in the air. several deaths have been reported, linked to the icy weather, which is bringing snow to the midwest and central sufficient. all the way down to oh texas, one driver was killed near dallas when the car hit an icy patch of road and hit a bridge. the storm has knocked out power to more than 200,000 people. rebecca, i remember you called it an arctic assault.

>> that cold polar airw( contins to blast down from canada into the midwest and northwest, and by january, we're used to these kind of temperatures in texas, but boy, january's come early, because here we are, not hardly into hid december and that cold air's moved in. we have occasion of snow in dallas. a lot of this isn't getting to the ground because it's so dry. it sure feels like winter. right now, it feels like 19 degrees in oklahoma city. we're going to continue to get that cold polar air pushing down from the north. look how cold it feels near the canadian border. this is dangerous weather. you talk about getting outside, hypotherm i can't with those wind chills, you can get cold so fast. the wind removes the heat from

your body. redding, feels like 41. interesting thing is that the oregon area down into california, you have already that had snow. we're talking not a lot of snow in parts of california, but when it gets to>d

vaccine to fight an outbreak.

sue egyptian released 21 women and girls sent to prison for protesting, their sentences reduced. they initially were ordered to spend 11 years behind bars, causing widespread outrage. this comes after a new law banning protests without government permission. we have been following this crackdown for time magazine. we are joined from cairo via skype. thanks for being with us today. >> thank you. >> with these women released with, do you accepts a shift in the government? do you think they may be softening their stance a little? >> it's important to make a distinction here. a lot of it depends on the prerogative of the individual judge in this case and what we saw here is that the judge iníñ the initial case handed down a set of sentences that were particularly harsh, and that caused the public's imagination, and that, i think, caused

significant shift in public opinion, which weighed on the government and i think probably weighed on this judge's mind when he was making this second ruling, but yes, it is important to stress that this is coming into can text of a broader clamp down on political protests in the street and the same week that those sentences were handed down, the military-led government implemented a law that prohibits all public protests of more than nine people, and i personally witnessed police turning water cannon on protestors in the streets of cairo. >> do you feel like that support from the military may possibly be eroding? >> that is a difficult question to say. again, i think it's important to extinguish between the military, the current government coalition that's led by the military and the different government

carrying this on you. we can only some that this kind of over reaching on the part of the police or other security agencies is going to be a political liability for the government, which is why in this particular case, we were hearing rumors of a possible presidential pardon, according to egyptian law, the legal process would have to run its course before a pardon could be considered. z the fact that the attention of the media was captured atn large and this was on the minds of the public is significant. >> how are people now responding to all this? we've seen protests there often. seems like it's almost on a daily basis. it doesn't seem they're entirely afraid of the government. they still protest, despite the threat. >> i think that's an important point. this is coming into context where according to human rights watch, more than 1300 demonstrators have died in

demonstrations since july 3, when the military removed mohamed morsi, the president, from power. still, there are demonstrations on almost a daily basis coming from the islamist camp, the non-islammist, the revolutionaries, and they are proceeding. after the new protest law was implemented over two weeks ago, there were nightly demonstrations in the streets of cairo, against the implementation of the law. i think what you're going to see going forward is that there's a complex interchange between repression and mobilization that the more the government attempts to criminalize protest, if you will, the more that there's going to be a push back against it. >> when you look back at the case with the young women arrested and sentenced to prison, why do you think the government cracked down so hard against those women? did they not see the outrage

that would cause? >> that is something of a mystery. i would stress that that decision would have been made by the individual prosecutors in alexandria and that particular judge. i know there's been some question of that judge's political leanings, but again, i would stress that the egyptian judiciary is a really vast and politically diverse institution and you have judges that have a whole range of political views and philosophies. my sense is that this particular case was the work of institution that are not necessarily coordinating with the central government. at this point, guessing why this group of women and girls were singleled out in this way, it would be guess work at this point.$ speculation. >> they are now at home. jared from cairo with us

tonight, thank you for your to him. >> thank you. >> secretary of defense arrived in afghanistan today to visit troops. u.s. and afghanistan are on a stand still with a security pact. hamid karzai said he won't sign the agreement until after election. hagel did address the issue. >> the minister of defense assured me that the b.s.a. would be signed. >> the defense ministers will meet in february on afghanistan. >> mark morgan is here with the supports headlines. the college football regular season is almost over. >> i got the sense you want an upset tonight. >> i always root for the underdog, no matter what. >> stay tuned. we're going to see what happens tonight, how this plays out.

the task is clear, a win for each team tonight and they will square off in the b.c.s. title game january 6. the seminoles are heavy favorites to beat duke in the a.c.c. championship became and ohio state is expected to have a tougher time in the big 10 title game, thes buckeyes taking on 1-loss michigan state. a loss by either would open the door for others to slide in the national title game. >> robinson cano is bolting the bronx, agreeing to a stunning 10 year, $240 million contract with the seattle mariners. it will be the third largest contract in baseball history. last season with the yankees, cano and beltran hit 296 for the

cardinals last season, 24 home runs. >> just ahead on aljazeera, not everyone in south africa remembers apartheid. we take a look at the generation born free when we come back. >> new developments surrounding a group of nones allegedly abducted by rebels in syria.

>> welcome back to aljazeera america. here's a look at your top stories today. nearly 400 people have been killed and thousands displaced by violence in the central african republic. in an effort to ease tension, the african union is increasing its deployment of troops to 6,000. france will have a total of 1600 troops on the ground tonight. >> chalk hagel ming with u.s. troops in afghanistan, but not with president karzai. in africa, where it is now

already sunday, the official week of mourning for nelson mandela has begun. a day of prayer and reflection will take place. religious services will be held to honor the life and legacy of mandela. the first generation of children born afterh apartheid are now learning about it as history. we have more about this generation called the born free. >> a first time visit to africa's parliament. these children have no memory of apartheid. now an opportunity for them to learn about the parliamentary democracy that was born at that time. >> the that is where the president sits. the president sits there alone. this is where he has got his own

place. >> an anecdote demonstrating that even the great can sometimes get it wrong. >> the former president was once making a speech here and he noticed a red spot. he didn't know what was going on. was going on. they said to him, you don't need to worry. it indicates that you have been speaking a long time. >> after laughter. the announcement that nelson mandela made. >> it changed my life. i think that it's a big thing for me. >> i think he created an africa for all, especially the young people of today, he made a sacrifice for where we are today, and there is a lot of the

you didn't that came from the decisions that he had made in the past. >> i can say he's a hero, because he died for this freedom that we're living in now. >> nelson mandela was a father figure for our democracy, for the whole world, he is recognized as a peacemaker, as somebody who has done a lot for his people, not only for black people, but for the whole nation and the whole nations of the globe. >> it's not only the lives of the youth that nelson mandela changed. >> i remember when we werej>

students and a large number of people simply lived in the mandela packagic. i believe for some people who voted for the first time in 1994 would have not except for nelson mandela. >> the youth who have never known anything but a free south africa now have something mandela left behind, the right to vote. >> to syria now, a group of nuns supposedly kidnapped by rebels. more than a dozen nuns were taken on monday. just hours ago, they appeared in a video saying they're in good condition. they also denied being kidnapped. one nun said they left the monastery to escape the shelling and will be released in two days.

it's unclear under what conditions the video was recorded. >> since the fighting began in syria, more than 2 million people have fled the country. there's a serious lack of food for the refugees. we have more from the border with jordan. >> trickling down on foot from no man's land into jordanian territory, hundreds of refugees finally escape fighting and destruction in their country. they've walked several kilometers in the cold and rain to get this far. this woman arrived with her mentally challenged son. she said hunger and starvation brought her here. >> food supplies have been cut off, mills and bakeries destroyed. there is no food or drink. if people see someone with a loaf of bread, they bid on it like an auction. >> most of to pay smugglers to pay for their safe exit.

they arrive with nothing more than their identification documents and the clothes on their back, having just experienced their long and dangerous journeyãto safety. >> they were turned away from the border because they did not have all their documents. now they do and they are ready to move into a camp. >> i'm sure it is better than living under air strikes and constant bombard men. we lost a lot of family members. any life here is better. >> heavy fighting in recent months has prevented thousands from crossing through, the safer but longer alternate route is acrossing through jordan with the border with iraq. this is where the arrives have dropped from thousands to hundreds in recent months.[&g jordan has been accused of turning them away, but insists

their borders open. >> why did the numbers drop? i think that's due to the security situation inside syria and not the situation on the jordanian border are. >> the u.n. refugee agency agrees. >> often, there's a lot more check points in dallas, there's certainly a lot of fighting going on there. as you can see, this is a very different location that people find. this is an easier place to come through. >> it will take up to four days for the refugees to oh get screened, registered and taken to a camp. their longer journey is the one that's yet to start. that's the one for human dignity in compile. >> protestors in ukraine returned to the street in force today, this after reports the country's president met with the russian president. the meeting sparked fears an economic deal might be reached with russia quarterback further distancing the ukraine from the

europeandown. >> there are reports that the ukrainian leader has signed a deal with russia securing according to reports, $17 billion worth of aid. ukraine, of course, desperately needs this money, simply to pay its creditors, the country's reserves are starting to run low, and it is in dire economic circumstances. these reports about the deal with russia are unconfirmed, but of course, they've spread yet more anger amongst the demonstrators here in independence square in central key every, because, of course, they want ukraine to go towards the european union, and it was failure to sign a deal with the e.u. that prompted all these protests. on sunday, they are planning the big one. they want to repeat the kind of successful mobilization that

they had last weekend here, and they desperately need to keep this momentum going, because they know if they fail to do that, then the president may well hang on to power with moscow's help. >> it's the first real test of the presidency. tomorrow, venezuela holds national local election. the country will choose hundreds of new mayors and thousands are new council members. the elections will show whether or not they are embracing their new leader. he is constantly compared to his friend and predecessor, hugo chavez. >> the dominican rehad bee repue hitting back. the interamerican commission on human rights accuses the government of major rights

violations. the court ruling has sparked protests in haiti and the dominican republic. >> now to the bird flu virus that killed several dozen in china this year. it normally inge effects birds like chicken and wide geese. it can jump to humans who come in contact with infected birds. the symptoms start with a high fever and cough, progress to organ failure, leading to death. the number of infected keeps rising in china. the city's health secretary raised the pandemic response level to serious. we have more on the either in the u.s. to fight the eye russ. >> china is on high alert. the world health organization says six march, there have been a total of 45 deaths from a new strain of bird influenza called

h7 and nine. >> close contact with birds occasionally results in the influenza going from the bird to a person, and then when that individual is infected, the infection is usually very, very serious. >> while there is no evidence that the h7n9 strain spreads from human to human, there are fears that the virus could mutate with with a potential for a pandemic. >> they are taking this very, very seriously. of course, one of the reasons they are doing it is that influenza, this strain in birds often does not make the bird sick, so you can't follow the sick birds. >> here on the campus of vanderbilt university, the front lines of vaccine research for the strains over in china, there's a team of about a dozen

doctors and scientists working to find a real vaccine to treat people around the world. >> three months ago, veteran vanderbilt influenza researcher joins that search. >> the chinese were very good about sharing the virus with the w.h.o. and with the c.d.c. so that we bee virus. >> in the test trials, they infected 200 people various levels of the strain. that led to the development of a successful vaccine. while china is more than 8,000 miles away, a global food pandemic could be on their doorstep at any time. >> it used to be maybe that if something happened in china, we couldn't see it or wouldn't see it for a long time, but basically, any of these pandemics are plain right away. >> there should be absolutely no fear and what americans should know is that the public health infrastructure that we have in

the united states is alert to this. we're all tuned in. we're on top of this and watching it very, very daily. >> as test trials continue at vanderbilt medical center, researchers will be ready to share and release the vaccine. should the h7 and h9 influenza begin to spread. >> a look at a decades old guitar that continues to strike a chord. bob dylan's guitar has sold for the highest price ever paid at j guitar auction. some fans accused him of selling out. rolling stone called it one of the most notable events in music history. >> all the college football highlights ahead in sports. >> a family heads to colorado, hoping marijuana can help their

5-year-old. the story of family's caused marijuana refugees.#í+[n

>> colorado's one of the first states to approve medical marv and today it's turning into a 23450 frontier for families desperate to find help for their very sick children. we have more. >> the seizures are common for 18-year-old jordan lyles. the night before we visited her, she had a grand malseizure on this very couch, which left her drowsy and unresponsive. >> is that mommy's sister? uh-huh. >> jordan suffers from a rare life threatening epilepsy. her childhood years of been

spent trying diets and every medication imaginable. >> this is what we try now. here's some more and more. >> the pills and promises didn't work. >> on her worst night, i counted 72 grand malceases yours. they moved to colorado to join hundreds of other so-called marijuana refugees. like them, jordan is on the medicine extracted from this plant. >> you can see the glimmer of white on top of the plants here and these hold the c.b.d., which is the chemical compound that is essentially the medicine we grow. >> the medical possibility was developed four years ago by a family of six brothers. >> many people think that we're giving pot to kids. that's not quite the case. >> joel stanley said charlotte's web is differe'xñ from the mothr common form of medical pot because instead of being loaded with psycho active t.h.c., it

contains the non-toxic compound c.b.d. it was originally designed to oh help cancer patients control the side effects of chemotherapy. >> we had no idea that we were going to delve into the realm of pediatric epilepsy. that didn't come by chance, but by necessity. >> without t.h.c., he said kids don't get high, but with its anti-inflammatory properties, they do get well. >> before charlotte's web, he spent almost a decade seizing. >> by the age of five, he experienced thousands of seizures. since he started on the extract, he is seizure-free. pedestrian i can't trigs are intrigued by the an he can tote

tall evidence. the doctor wants to see more research. >> we have case reports and because of those case reports, absolutely, we should look into this further. >> for pam lyle, marijuana is the last thing she would have imagined giving her child, but now she's planning to, saying it's a matter of saving jordan's life. >> do we have to know the reason before we stop children dying? no. >> aljazeera, denver. >> time for sports with mark morgan. a couple of big, big, big college football games tonight. you're a huge fan of upsets. >> i do like the upset and the underdog. >> you would like number one to

lose and number two. >> yes. >> then it becomes math. for number one florida state, beat duke and a spot on the title game is assured. the undefeated seminoles are heavy favorite to say advance. the blue devils face a significant challenge. >> they have crushed every opponent they've played so far this year. it's going to be a big task for duke to take down florida state. duke should be incredibly proud of its season. i think duke's going to give them a game. i think it's going to be a game close. duke has hung with everybody this season. it has, you know, gone past what many people thought they could do and it99 has defied the odds. to count them out would be a bad idea. i think they will give florida

state a game, give it all it can. i don't think at this point that there's any team in the country right now that's better than florida state. >> number two ohio state will lock up a b.c.s. title game in the big 10 championship game. the spartan's stingy d. allows the fewest yards her game in the entire country. this past week, urban myer tried to weed out distractions. >> it's been finals week, a busy week, but i like the maturity of our team. you really lean on your coaches and team to stay focused. >> a lot of players we saw last year are a year older and in their system. it's what they were doing. you get a feeling for braxton miller in terms of what he did last year against us. you get a feel for how carlos

hide played and devin smith, some of the other players that played against us. it gives us something to compare to. >> third quarter, 17-10 cowboys, it's a fake! the short pass to kicker michael honey can you, eight yards for the touchdown, tied at 17. fourth quarter now, 20-17, oklahoma on top. roland one yard for the touchdown. bell intercepted, or is he? begin better is stripped, ball comes out, sooners still alive. later in the same drive, bell looking for saunders. there he is, seven yards from the touchdown, what a final drive. oklahoma adds another late score and wins it. >> central florida and a s.m.u., very late third quarter, rambles

15 yards. he gets there. that proved to be the winning score. u.c.f. heading to a b.c.s. bowl for the first time in school history. >> the annual army-navy clash is set. the 1963 game was played just 15 days of a the assassination of president john f. kennedy. here's michael eaves. >> as a nation mourned the loss of its leader, more than 100,000 fans filed into the stadium in philadelphia on a saturday in december of 1963. president kennedy, a noted football fan and navy vet had attended the same contest in years prior and the 1963 game was canceled, first lady jacqueline kennedy urged the game be played, saying that's

what her husband would have wanted. >> they were thinking not to have the game, just the affect that it had on the atmosphere. j.f.k. was a navy fan. >> a trip to the national title game on the line, quarterback roger stow balk led them to a victory. navy pulled off the upset when time ran out as army had the ball, fourth and goal to the two-yard line. today's players are no strangers to the significance of this matchup. >> that game was at west point. we got to ask questions. that was fantastic, just to hear his input on where the program is. >> that was a huge event in america and all of america's hearts, my parents went through that, and then during that time, i talked it with them. it's definitely something that we're very honored to be able to do. >> while most of the coaches and none of the players involved in this year's game here at lincoln financial field were even born before that 1963 classic.

they are all part of a lineage of the time. >> robinson cano sign add 10 year $240 million contract with the seattle mariners, making him the third highest paid player in baseball history. thelñ yankees reached an agreemt with carlos beltran. the particulars, three years, a total of $45 million. the 36-year-old hit .296 last season with 21 home runs and 84 r.b.i. thats. >> the beard is returning to boston, be mike napoli agreeing to stay with the red sox. he was an integral part of that

world series winning squad. mostly not remembered for his bat. >> thanks, mark. rebecca's back with more on this winter weather.

>> arctic air has bro the an incredible wind, snow and wind chill, so far below zero, dangerous to be outside. the northwest, we've been getting code arctic air drying things out today. 36 in seattle and 29 for portland. temperatures here are up to or i should say down to 20 degrees below the average for the time of year. the arctic air coming down from the north is so dry, that we're just getting light amounts of snow. parts of our ski resorts around utah, about two-inches of snow today so far. we're getting incredible wind gusts, 60-70-mile per hour winds. then we've got that cold rain and big snow being dumped into

the california mountains. that storm system is going to be tracking eastward. as it does, we're seeing big risks when it comes to ice, from texas to virginia working our way into monday. thiswr is a place that got about two-inches of snow today, gorgeous place, white powder. it's going to be wonderful for skiing, snowboarding, any ski sport, really. the storm swept down toward you nevada, five and a half inches near las vegas within 24 hours. and parts of new mexico, you're higher mountains, seven-inches in 24 hours. now ice is the concern. as we get into later tomorrow, into early monday morning, the greatest probability of ice accumulations will be working their way up into west virginia

and western virginia. >> you're watching aljazeera america live. the veteran detained by north korea is back home. he landed this morning and was reunited with his wife and son. >> chuck hagel was in afghanistan today. he was told the stalled deal between the two countries would be signed before the election. an egyptian appeals court reduced a controversial sentence for 21 women and girls. they were arrested for protesting against the government, causing