with m. night shayamalan sunday at 7et / 4pt on al jazeera america a federal judge delivers a strong blow to the national security agency saying the collection of millions of u.s. phone records is likely unconstitutional. >> do you copy me. >> reporter: newly released audio recordings of the granite mountain hot shots that captured the final moments of the 19 arizona firefighters who died battling a wildfire last summer. >> i feel like i'm being redeemed and restored. >> reporter: earning a college degree behind bars, how higher education is giving inmates a new outlook on life and it's an increasingly popular form of retirement investing, a closer look at the pros and cons of mutual funds and why it may not

be the best way to invest your money. ♪ good morning and welcome to al jazeera america, i'm stephanie sy, in a strongly worded opinion a federal judge used words like ind indis -- indiscriminite saying it may be unconstitutional and this is since edward sthoe den leaked information about his activities. the issues involving the nsa surveillance programs go back more than a decade. in october of 2001 president bush signed the patriot act into law, it allowed for the first time american communication and personal records. in september of 2007 microsoft became the first major internet firm to cooperate with nsa's

prison program. the online giant gave the nsa access to internet search history, e-mail and live chat. over the next few years companies including yahoo, google and facebook also joined the program. in june 2013 reports of the nsa's data collection programs went public, after edward snow den revolution in the newspaper the guardian and a judge ruled the nsa is likely violating the constitution with its bulk collection of american's phone records. a once secret program suffers another blow this time in a court of law. in a sharply worded ruling against the nsa far reaching phone surveillance activities a federal judge says they likely violate the constitution. the ruling comes after richard judge leon in the district court in d.c. ordered the government to stop collecting metadata in the two plaintiffs who brought the case. >> metadata allows the government to tell who you are

associating with, whether it's your doctor, your lawyer, your accountant, whoever, it's extremely intimidating. >> reporter: appointed by george w bush in 2002 concluded i infringes on the fourth amendment one reasonable searchs and seizures and the judge wrote i cannot imagine a more endiscriminate for purposes of querying and analyzing it without further judicial approval and have serious doubts of the meta data collections in cases of imminent threatses of terrorism and seeing it and studying it and believe the program is constitutional as previous judges have found. we have no further comment at this time. but there will be no immediate

changes to the nsa's program and the judge stayed his ruling allowing the government to file an appeal which could take up to six moves and would be supported by president obama who is a defender of the program. >> we save lives. we know of at least 50 threats that have been averted because of this information. so lives have been saved. >> reporter: to edward snow den, the man who first revealed the secrets in june, the ruling is vindication, snow den living in russia where he was granted asylum issued a statement saying today a secret program authorized by a secret court when exposed to the light of day violated americans rights, it's the first of many. meanwhile despite suggestions that snow den be given amnesty in exchange for ending the leaks the white house stood its ground. >> mr. snow den has been accused

of leaking classified information and he faces felony charges here in the united states. he should be returned to the united states as soon as possible where he will be awarded full due process and protections. >> reporter: the judge in this case stands in sharp contrast to the foreign surveillance court which authorized the once secret program. 15 federal judges on the secret court issued warrants staying nsa activities were legal on at least 35 occasions. so who is judge richard leon, the man behind the monday's nsa ruling, a 64-year-old republican nominated by george bush in 2001, confirmed in 2002 and known for cases regarding gitmo prisoners and said they have no way to talk about this in court but ruled against the bush

administration saying 5 prisoners were held at gitmo for nearly 7 years. national security and intelligent league also be on the agenda when they meet with the tech ceos at the white house and has a second summit from apple, yahoo, twitter and several other big companies and also discuss recent efforts to repair the healthcare.gov website. it is two months since it talked about listening on merkle's phone and president obama said the u.s. would stop tapping her calls the fall out from the scandal strains relations and german officials want the spying to stop altogether across all levels of the country but american leaders refused to extend the no spying guaranty beyond the chancellor and don't want to set a precedent with

other countries. and merkle was sworn in this morning for a third term as the chancellor and had the top job since 2005 and went to kim jong-il's death and he died unexpectedly two years ago passing power to his son and political and military leaders say they are pledging the loyalty to kim jong-un and last week he had his uncle killed for plotting to over throw the government. they are asking for $6 billion to deal with the syrian refugee cities and the larnled amount of money the u.n. asked for to deal

with a single crisis and it's getting worse as a harsh winter falls on the region and they are living in tents and fears of starvation and illness. and al jazeera's james reports from the u.n. . >> without doubt it's the worst humanitarian crisis for decades, one year ago there were a huge number of refugees and half a million in countries that neighbor syria but throughout 2013 the numbers fleeing syria have continued to rise dramatically, the figure is now more than four times what it was a year ago, $2.3 and predict during 2014 it could be 4.1 million refugees and add to that 9.3 million people still in syria but the u.n. estimates are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. >> even if there were an end to the violence in syria tomorrow,

we would still have a major humanitarian crisis on our hands. >> reporter: last january world leaders gathered in kuwait to pledge for funds and $4.4 billion was needed in 2013, only 60% of it was raised. the u.n. secretary general moon has a message for world leaders who have a larger figure of $6.5 billion. >> the international community and leaders have a moral responsibility, a political responsibility, to help those people. we have $9.5 million who have been effected. this is almost a half of the total population. >> reporter: one of the other problems is humanitarian access for those most in need in syria, the security council has talked about the issue but it's not taken any action, it's not past a resolution on that is on so many things regarding syria,

there is stalemate, james with al jazeera the u.n. >> reporter: gas heating stoves are being distributed to refugees at a camp in jordan, more than 120,000 syrian refugees are there dealing with bitter winter weather and 2 million fled syria and living in several neighboring country. some areas in the u.s. will be getting snow today and nickle mitchell is here to explain why the storm will move in and out very quickly. good morning. >> that is one part of the story and i think a lot of people like to hear the storms that move in and out and kind of get it over with, as we move across the country it's a clipper moving across and already this morning we are starting to g take it slow if you are heading out on the roads. why do we get some of the fast-moving systems and versus some of the ones with the problems out there, well, what

happens is they get caught up a lot of times in the jet stream, the upper level high wind core and that is 16 0 miles per hour but yesterday moving from alberta and south of the great lakes and moving out by the end of the day today, so in and out pretty quickly as it does all of that. now we usually call them albert clippers if they start in alberta and sasquachian is the screamers and it's bringing the snow and you can see it has been moving to the northeast, and what it will bring in terms of totals getting across the region, it will as it hits the coastline and starts to pick up a little more moisture so that will bring some more snow as we get into portions of new england and that is the heaviest snow enhanced by the coastline and those are the areas that are a

foot or more and a couple isolated spots otherwise for new york, 2-4" and boston maybe 3-5" and back to you. >> thank you. dozens of american sailors involved in rescue efforts following the nuclear plant meltdown now say they have cancer, 51 sailors on the nuclear powered super carrier ronald reagan say they were exposed to radio active material and suffering from thyroid and brain tumor and leukemia and they filed suit against the owner of the plant. protesters paid tribute to 17 people killed with police in a sit in two years ago. [chanting] demonstrators waived flags with faces of people killed and called an end to military rule in egypt. the new secretary of homeland

security will be sworn in by the end of the week and jay johnson was confirmed to lead the department, the former pentagon lawyer will over see national security, immigration, disaster response and transportation and follows in the footsteps of janet napalotino and this has been since a rule change that allows them to confirm nominations with a simple majority. a federal judge's decision is giving retired workers in detroit new hope. unions and pension funds can appeal his bankruptcy ruling. that could potentially stop the city from cutting the pensions as a part of the chapter 9 filing, the initial ruling allowed detroit to move forward with bankruptcy and put together a plan for restructuring the debt, the state appointed manager said the pension funds are under funded by $3.5 billion. same-sex couples in illinois

will get married before the equality law takes effect in the state, gay couples who want to wed because one partner is terminally ill can do so. illinois is the 16th state to legalize gay marriage but doesn't take effect until june 1st. the final communications from an elite group of firefighters who died in an arizona fire fighter. what the audio recordings reveal about the last moments of the granite mountain hot shots. why workers in amazon's second biggest market are striking during one of the busiest shipping days of the year. >> to show her even though i fail i can pick myself up and grow. >> reporter: a prison program that is helping women turn their lives around through the power of education. and in monday night football

featuring the leg of justin tucker and in reach of the

♪ good morning and welcome back to al jazeera america i'm stephanie sy, ahead, the hot shots and the entire team was killed last summer trying to battle an arizona wildfire. but first let's look at what temperatures we will see across the nation and nickle mitchell is back. >> and hopefully everyone is running and getting out in the column cold temperatures and 30 in houston and la is 66 coming off off a record high and had at least one part of the country what has been above average. in the midwest a couple temperatures cooled with the

clipper and fargo is 17 today, 10 degrees lower than yesterday. look at the core of warm air that will start to bubble up, denver almost 60, rapid city, 45, it's influenced by a little down flow and denver again tomorrow will be at 60 and in the meantime the northeast slowly starting tomorrow a little bit but then especially as we get in the next couple days. after that we will start to see a little bit of a thaw and people are looking to milder temperatures, back to you. >> a late-season wildfire burning in northern california has destroyed 15 homes, the fire in big sir burned 500 acres and forced people to evacuate the area and hundreds of firefighters worked through the night to fight the flames and it broke out sunday during the unseasonably warm and windy weather. they are called the hot shots and have one of the most dangerous jobs on everett, instead of running from fires they rush in trying to contain

and extinguish them, last summer 19 of the fire fighters died fighting a blaze in the arizona mountains and audio of their final battle has been released and john has more. >> haunting images from a helmet camera capturing the desperate efforts to reach 19 elite firefighters trapped in an inferno and would not escape and there are the final words of the granite mountain hot shots and died in the line of duty battling the yarnell fire last year. the response comes though not immediately from the command center. >> granite mountain 7 how do you copy me. >> reporter: confusion and here one unseen fire fighter tries to identify the voice of another. >> is that eric?

>> i hear something. >> reporter: knowing time is slipping away the dispatcher makes an urgent request for a helicopter. >> okay, get to the radio and i need you to quit operations. >> granite 7 and they are in trouble and trying to get you on the radio and let's see what we have going on. >> reporter: and then the final transmission. >> and these are the granite mountain hot shots, we are preparing a deployment site and burying around ourselves in the brush and i'll give you a call when we are under the shelters. >> reporter: the command center asks to confirm the location. >> okay, copy that, so you are south side of the fire then? >> confirmed. >> reporter: but there was no reply. when the firefighters reached

the men it was too late, they had all per riched and they concluded a break down in communication may have contributed to the tragedy. >> reporter: and al jazeera's john reporting, 8400 acres were black in the yarnell hill fire last june and loss of the 19 hot shot members made it the most deadly wildfire in 80 years. three companies will pay california cities more than a billion dollars to remove lead-based paint in older homes a judge said con-agra and sher win williams sold lead based paints in the 70s even though they knew of potential dangers and it's linked to learning disabilities and health problems in children. local governments sued in 2000. an autism mystery says children suffer from higher levels of a specific kind of autism compared to other kids in the country and done by the centers of disease

control and minnesota and the group autism speaks and shows one somali in 3 # had a debilitating form of autism and the national average for the disorder is one in 88. the research shows somali kids were diagnosed later, at five compared to two years old for other kids. the study does not explain why the numbers are so high. the national institute of health says it will use part of a $30 million grant from the nfl to conduct research involving athletes and traumatic brain injuries, a part of the effort to study long-term effects of concussions and 12 million is used by researchers at the boston school of medicine and mt. sinai hospital in new york working to identify traumatic ct e in living patients and i has only been identified in autopsies. another $2 million will be split between six other projects and includes $100,000 foresee ,

seattle children hospital for athletes who receive concussion. the season is wining to a close and scrambling for spots and jessica is here with that and more. >> two games left of the regular season and things are certainly heating up for some teams. it's just a matter of jockeyi i for, playoff and that was the seize for the ravens and lions in the motor city and defending raves won the last three and detroit had lost three of the last four and bush had the attack and 14 yard score but the leg of this guy for the ravens having a big day and tucker had the 49 yarder and mattstafford and company making a score of a detroit lead but 61 yards out, wow, nails it just inside the

upright and night for tucker, 61 yards is the longest of his career and second longest in monday night football history and ravens win. >> i was getting hit up on the twitter-sphere leading up to the game and fancy play match-ups and that is very important. so i'm glad to come through of course for my team here, my reality team, but also for all my fantasy owners a big thank you for picking me up. it means a lot to me and hopefully i can continue to contribute to the successes of your respective teams. >> i went over and watched it. i watched it snap in the whole and sam did a good job of getting the ball down and then you kind of can't tell too much from where we are, and he put his hands up and, hey, we see

him hit those kinds of kicks everyday in practice. >> reporter: i like the acceptance speech. the texas long horn coach and mark brown resigned on friday after 16 years in austin where he won two big championships and a national championship and this year tease squad was disappointing 8-4 not up to texas history and he was shown the door and mark brown may be done in austin but he is done? and graham watson moves in. >> he is not done and he is 62 years old and a lot of fire in him. you can tell by the way the team finished the season and did not win the big tall title but when they were down and said they would put itself in a position to be in the top 12 and he had the juice to get his team going i think that speaks volumes

about what he can do and i think there are a lot of programs out there that would be willing to take a chance obhim and probably come out with good results. >> before his arrival to texas and winning the championship and one of the most desired posts in football and top candidates includes gus of auburn and jim bow of florida state and a couple nfl coaches, 2008 super bowl champion mike tomlin of the pittsburgh steelers and mike mccarthy of the green bay packers and look for chip kellie to see some excitement with the position. >> reporter: thank you, several

hundred workers for amazon are going on strike again in germany. some of them even traveled across the atlantic to protest outside the internet giant headquarters in seattle and kim reports. >> early morning shift workers arrived before do you know at amazon's warehouse but there was never any intention of clocking on. chanting strike day has arrived. these workers and more than a thousand others across the country walked off the job calling for more pay. >> translator: we demand from amazon they sign a labor agreement with us based on the regulation of the retail industry. this would mean amazon employees starting new in the company would have 7,000 euros per year. >> it pays well according to the industry with wages starting at over $13 an hour and the workers union says compared to retail and mail order industries amazon employees are under paid and

faced with permanent performance pressure. germany's is the second biggest market after the u.s. employing more than 23,000 warehouse staff and seasonal workers and staff are downing talks during the business just month of the year the company is confident. >> translator: the trade is running according to plan and had very, very good sales figures and yesterday we saw very strong charge rates as we call it here across the near network and reach our customers on time. >> reporter: this will continue across different amazon sites in germany for the rest of the week as workers dish out chris pass presents demand one of their own, kim with al jazeera. >> reporter: last year amazon generated more than 8 billion of the $61 billion global revenue in germany. a bipartisan bill and it could

have an impact on next year's mid term election and solving cold cases involving the klu klux klan and what victim family members are saying about the long wait for justice and millions of americans have them in their p

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you. >> in new orleans... >> seattle bureau... >> washington... >> detroit... >> chicago... >> nashville... >> los angeles... >> san francisco... >> al jazeera america, take a new look at news. welcome back to al jazeera america, i'm stephanie sy, ukrain president is meeting the counterpart in moscow and hit a massive demonstration to coincide with the meeting, protesters demanding greater integration with the european union instead of russia and

peter sharp is in moscow and good morning. the president is preparing to meet putin today, what is at stake for both sides? >> there is an awful lot at stake, the president flew into moscow a few hours ago leaving a country with an economy that is floundering and going through the third recession since 2008 and the foreign currency reserve are down lowest in 7 years and for the president the real priority will be when he meets with putin today is try and seek some sort of loan that would make a bail out possible to avoid default. he is going to be talking hopefully anything between $5-$15 billion. this meeting has been very well sign posted and the feeling is he will get a lot of what he wants. we understand that the russians are going to reduce the price

that ukraine pays for its natural gas by up to 25% and as i say there will be some move possibly on a major loan to the ukranian president all of which he needs desperately. >> and peter sharp reporting from moscow. in washington all eyes are on the senate, a vote is set later today to bring the bipartisan bill to the floor and al jazeera's erica has the latest, good morning, is there an agreement on the horizon? >> it looks like it, senators from both parties have voiced opposition to the compromise bill written by a house republican paul ryan and after it was overwhelmingly passed last week it looks like more and more republican senators are giving it their support too. >> they do not want to be blamed for a second government shutdown, so one by one they are

stepping up to the plate to bring the bipartisan budget bill to the floor. >> i'm sure the republican leadership i bet is not going to risk another government shutdown and speaker john boehner and an architect and congressman paul ryan have been working behind the scenes to make counterparts in the senate sign on too. the bill still needs at least five senate republicans to vote yes and so far senators john mccain and susan collins have support and orin hatch and johnny isakson and sacks by chambliss joined up and they have more than the 60 votes to have a filibuster threat and bring it to a final vote. >> i hope it passes and i'll do anything, not anything but we must not shutdown the government

again. >> and republicans are standing their ground. >> if we agree not to spend over this level, this is our spending limit. >> reporter: the deal does not extend unemployment benefits or reverse the cut in food stamps, in the new agreement federal workers pay to pensions and airport security feek feeks social security and medicaid can be here years from now and the parties will have to give. >> reporter: there are still a number of republicans who oppose the budget deal and not a done deal until the vote and harry reed is urging final approvement of the plan saying it will help break quote a terrible cycling of governing by crisis and when it is passed it goes to the president's desk and president obama said he will sign it. >> erica, as you reported the senate is prepared for a procedural vote today on

house-approved budget deal and if they get the necessary 60 votes the next step would be a fi final vote on wednesday and 35 senate seats up for grabs next november and 21 are currently held by democrats, 13 republican and key members of both parties are at professor from georgetown university and joins us this morning, good morning. do you foresee any obstacles for the budget bil government down and move to a vote today and approve it tomorrow. >> it's important to note that the budget bill doesn't address the debt ceiling, does that mean we are in for another show down

in march when they i believe the debt creating will be raised in a swift manner. >> some are threatening to tie budget issues to the debt sealing and see how that plays out and mid term elections are coming up, and presidential at play and they will see the vote for the budget bill go into that. do some republicans feel like that isublicans up for reelection next year in the senate half of them are facing challengers from the tea party that will attack them from the

right. both senators are aware of with the obama administration. >> speaker boehner sort of stuck out his neck with these outside conservative groups criticizing them for coming out against the budget bill before it was presented and will that hurt them or what does that tell for debate next year.the republican >> reporter: what about mitch mcconnell, he has said specifically professor he doesn't like this budget

government at georgetown university and thanks for joining us. >> thank you. >> reporter: when the f.b.i. launched the cold case initiative several years ago it brought hope to families looking for answers for death dating back to the civil rights the era and hundreds of killings have been looked at and closed and questions still linger and we have the second report from mississippi. >> in the back woods of mississippi they return to a dark place from their childhood. >> we lost our father here.

my mother lost her husband here. and today is an opportunity to say, daddy, we are still seeking the truth. >> reporter: in 1964 kathryn and shirley's father cliffton walker was driving down the road when he was ambushed by a group of white men and shot. they were barely teenagers at the time and despite the investigation the first contact with f.b.i. is when they were handed a letter telling them the case was closed. >> you brought me a letter stating you are closing the case and yet never took time to meet with our family to discuss any findings or any interviews concerning our father, captain walker. >> it's an outcome that doesn't surprise cold case project reporter ben greensburg who spent years investigating the walker murder and says f.b.i. assigned to the case did not appear to have resources or will to thoroughly investigate the

racially-motivated killing. >> this is an opportunity to wage the war on america's demons from the racist past and that has not been delivered and the opportunity to bring that to bear on this history is diminishing with every day. >> reporter: the f.b.i. headquarters in washington put the accusations to the man now in charge of the cold case initiative and the aim is to prosecute but when that doesn't happen he says the project is a success. >> in terms of putting the evidence together, putting those stories together that we achieved something historically, we have achieved something to tell the tale about exactly what happened and hopefully bring close tour the families of the victims. >> reporter: since the cold kash initiative began in 2006 no one has been brought to justice although f.b.i. say they are confident that prosecutions will follow. but for the walker family and many others whose cases are

closed there is an overwhelming sense of disappointment, their cases were not taken as seriously as perhaps they could have been. for many in the deep south cases like his murder are an open wound, reminder of a time when many would rather forget but for some it's a wound that will never heal. >> we want the world to know. >> we can't say it's justice. they will never been served. >> justice has not been served. >> reporter: al jazeera, woodfield mississippi. >> reporter: in 2008 they passed the unsolved civil rights act with $10 million each year for the f.b.i. and department of justice to investigate unsolved racially-motivated deaths dating back to before 19 # 70, they are changing the school in florida of a kkk leader and they voted to rename nathan b forest

high school in jacksonville after a petition got 160,000 signatures and it was named after forest, one of the creators of the klu klux klan when it was opened in 59 and they will vote on a new name and today more than half the school students are african/american. this is what is making news in the financial markets and business world this morning, federal reserve kicks off the last meeting of the year and the two-day meet willing be monitored on clues when they will pull back on the bond buying program and one person said they face a tricky decision to scale back the $85 billion a month stimulus. >> and growth is picking up consumer spending was very weak in the third quarter and growth for next year and another side of the feds mandate which is inflation and inflammation -- inflation is too close for comfort.

>> reporter: stock features are flat at this hour. and after two weeks of decline the dow jones starts at 15,884. s&p is 1786 and nasdaq 4029. overseas european markets are lower after posting their best rally in two months yesterday. and in asia markets enning the day lower and japan rose nearly 1%. facebook wants wants to capture the television market and facebook will announce today that it's going to begin selling commercials online. the ads will run on the web and mobile devices. what is not clear is how long the ads will actually be. the winter storms won't deter people from hitting the roads this holiday season and aaa says 30% of americans will travel in the holiday and 94.5 million people will be traveling 50 miles or more between christmas and new year and will mark the

fifth straight year that travel volume has increased. it's an investment many americans don't know they own or at least don't fully understand, they are called target date mutual funds, the amount has exploded from $71 billion at the end of 2005 to more than half a trillion this year, the attraction, they do the work for you, rebalancing investment strategies moving to retirement but their one size fits all approach may not be right for everyone. >> what is the no-brainer when it comes to retirement planning, target date mutual funds. >> we call it a target date fund. >> how is this supposed to make saving for retirement easier? >> you are missing the bigger message here. simplicity. >> reporter: the mutual funds sparked a debate that sounds simple, pick your retirement date and find a fund to match and forget about it. >> we invest for our target date

of retirement, if you will retire in 2025 you buy a 2025 bo bond. >> reporter: a mix of stock and bond and the further away retirement the more money in stock, that is the risky part of the portfolio designed to generate growth. as your retirement date grows closer in the glide pack they glide them out of stocks into bonds with the idea you need will be safer there. if you are retiring in 2025 by the time you get there your fund may have a mix of 30% stocks and 70% in bonds and cash. but before the market crash of 2008 many funds close to their target date had heavier allocations to stocks and investors lost huge amounts of savings when the market tanked. >> lost almost 38% of their value in that year and a half time span where we saw the market decline and that was a problem. >> reporter: analysts point out the auto pilot approach to

retirement planning may not work for everyone. >> if you are a late starter and jump into let's say a 2030 or 2020 fund and you have not put enough away you might need to take more risk and if they are retiring in five years they can certainly be in the proper glide path so there is the idea that one size does not fit all. >> reporter: first introduced in the early 1990 it surged after 2006 when president bush signed the pension and protection act, the law essentially made them a default option for workplace plans meaning if you don't choose investments you may be defaulted in a target date fund. over the past few years the size of the industry has sky rocketed to more than 500 funds with close to $600 billion in assets and van guard says by 2017, 55% of 401(k) participants will have it all in a target date fund.

>> they are choosing and moving to the target date or mixed asset type of fund and i think that is going to continue sglrj. >> reporter: that is important that they continue to educate the public about the pros and cons of target date funds, stacey tisdale in new york. >> reporter: they are looking for disclosure of the fees. female inmates getting a chance to turn their lives around. >> a lot of voices in their life that tell them they don't matter and they don't count >> reporter: helping them reduce the risk of being caught in a lifelong cycle of crime and get an education at the same time. we have a clipper in the great lakes and northeast, i'll have details. and who is who of music makers and set to be recognized in the rock and roll all of fame

and defining the grudge to the make up artist the from rock to r and b of all time and 70 superstars and it's an unusual diverse hits who get their day in the sun.

(vo) al jazeera america

ski resorts i'm sure loving the powder and welcome back to al jazeera america and let's look at where the snow and rain is falling across the country and our metrologist nicole mitchell is back. >> it has a clipper that we have been talking about, the western half of the country is dry and coming up, we will talk about the dry conditions influencing some fire dangers in california, moving across the country this is moving through pretty quickly and that is part of what a clipper is, a fast mover so we have it in pennsylvania right now and moving in new york, new jersey and lingering snow behind it in wisconsin this morning. but they will not be heavy

amounts and it will develop some off the coastline and northern parts of new england will get more snow but a lot of places 2-4", 2-5" and already cleared out by tomorrow. back to you. >> thank you. chinese doctors used a rare surgical procedure to let a man keep his severed hand. it was accidentally cutoff in a factory mishaped and they reattached it near his ankle and kept it there for a month. doctors say the hand borrowed the blood supply from arteries in his leg to keep it alive and treated other injuries before the reattachment surgery could take place and hopeful use of the hand. they may not perform surgery but college degrees are prospect for people in incarceration and help them earn college education and change their lives in the process. >> donna is serving a life

sentence for first-degree murder and for a few hours she can swap the prison uniform for a cap and gown. >> i feel like i'm being redeemed, i'm being restored. >> reporter: it was the first graduation at the tennessee prison for women, eight inmates received associates degrees in liberal arts in nashville, every wednesday night for the past 7 years professors have come in the prison teaching these women everything from history to physics. >> the classes were not easy and i feel like i have really earned a degree. >> we were not inmates, we were always students. >> reporter: each woman had to earn 63 credit hours. >> there have been a lot of voices in their life that tell them that they don't matter and they don't count and now they can illustrate they are somebody, they can work hard and achieve success and they can

model that to their families, to their children, and to the larger society. >> reporter: it allows other students to come in and take classes with the inmates and bringing in outside perspectives and students inside can explore a more traditional college setting. the program is life changing and pointing to studies that show higher education reduces the likelihood of ex convicts going back to prison. >> and for antwaneet hill who is locked up and the past seven years of work is a way to give back in prison. >> it's a community and it's not a community seen by the entire world on a daily basis but it's a community and there are women getting out before i get out and now i have the tools to help them. >> why was this so important to finish this? >> to show her even though i fell i can pick myself backup and grow. >> reporter: there are more than 30 women currently enrolled

in the life program, b the next class is set to graduate in less than two years. at 57 years old donna mccoy knows she may never leave prison but with the diploma now she has found a different kind of freedom, jonathan martin, al jazeera nashville. >> it takes the women 7 years to complete their associates degree. country music fans are mourning the death of legendary singer ray price, his long career began in 1950s as a pioneer of the honky-tonk sound and known of his song for the good times and it was released in the 70s and a big top hit. a member of the country music hall of fame since 96 and battling pancreas cancer and he was 87 years old. nirvanna is about to take the place in the rock and roll hall of fame in the class of 2014

were announced on monday and includes genesis front man peter gabrielle with stage shows and achievement in the studio and hall and oats and kiss who were known for the costumes and linda ronstat and cat stevens, the 70 singer, song writer and he was back on stage after a long retirement from the music business. and tom joins us with the look at the stories we are following this morning. >> a federal judge has ruled some of the tax used by the national security agency are likely unconstitutional. the judge says the nsa phone call surveillance program could be a violation of privacy rights and the senate will bring the bipartisan bill for a vote today. the president is meeting russian

counterpart today in moscow to seek a loan up to $15 billion and they are planning yet another massive demonstration. and also as we creep closer to the end of the year what congress still has yet to accomplish and what we can expect in 2014 ahead of the mid-term elections and something congress didn't do, extend unemployment benefits, one woman shares how that decision is evening her life. >> and i'm metrologist nicole mitchell and how these conditions go to fire conditions in the west and who is getting snow this morning in the northeast. >> reporter: and al jazeera news continues and thomas and i are back with you in 2 1/2 minutes. ♪

>> from our headquarters in new york, here are the headlines this hour. >> al jazeera america is the only news channel that brings you live news at the top of every hour. >> a deal in the senate may be at hand and just in the nick of time. >> thousands of new yorkers are marching in solidarity. >> we're following multiple developments on syria at this hour. >> every hour from reporters stationed around the world and across the country. >> only on al jazeera america.

>> evey sunday night, join us for exclusive, revealing, and suprizing talks with the most interesting people of our time. this sunday, >> i spent my whole life thinking about themes and thinking about how to structure movies, so this is highly unusual. >> the director of the sixth sense, says there are five things we can do to fix education in america >> the united states has education apartheid, that's the facts... >> talk to al jazeera with m. night shayamalan sunday at 7et / 4pt on al jazeera america

>> a federal judge delivers a strong blow saying the collection of millions of u.s. phone records is likely unconstitutional. >> the u.s. senate is expected to vote on the bipartisan budget bill. that's not the only thing on the agenda. >> ukraine's president is in moscow to play let's make a deal, looking for money to prevent an economic crisis, while thousands demand that he step down. >> saying goodbye to an icon of the road, the volkswagen bus.

>> welcome to aljazeera america. >> in a strongly worded opinion, a federal judge used words like in discriminate, arbitrary, and even orwellian about the spy program. >> it's the latest in series of hit since edward snowden leaked information about its activities. >> another blow in a court of law. in a sharply worded ruling, the federal judge said they likely vital the constitution. the ruling comes after judge richard leon of the u.s. district court in washington, d.c. ordered the government to stop collecting met at a data on the calls of the two plaintiffs who brought the case. >> met at a data is information allowing the government to be

able to tell who you're associating with, whether your doctor, lawyer, accountant, whoever. it's extremely intimidating. >> judge leon appointed by george w. bush in 2002 concluded the program infringes on the fourth amend, prohibiting unreasonable searches and seizures. he wrote: he further added: >> the justice department was quick to respond to the ruling by stating:

>> there will be no immediate yes changes to the n.s.a.'s practical. the judge stayed his ruling, allowing the government to file an appeal, which could take up to six months. the appeal would likely be supported by president obama, who is a staunch defender of the program. >> we've saved lives. we know of at least 50 threats that have been averted because of this information, so lives have been saved. >> to edward snowden, the man who first revealed the n.s.a.'s secrets to the world in june, the ruling is vindication. snowden living in russia where he was granted asylum issued a statement saying: >> meanwhile, despite suggestions that snowden be given amnesty in exchange for ending the leaks, the white house stood its ground.

>> mr. snowden has been accused of leaking classified information, and he faces felony charges here in the united states. end be returned to the united states as soon as possible, where he will be accorded full due process and protection. >> national security and intelligence leaks will be on the agenda today when president obama meets with top tech c.e.o.'s at the white house. the president will meet with apple, yahoo, twitter and several other big companies, discussing recent efforts to rare the healthcare.gov website. >> the new secretary of homeland security will be sworn in. jay johnson was confirmed to lead in disaster response and transportation. he follows in the footsteps of janet napolitano. he is just one of a series of confirmations that have been pitched through since senate

democratic passed a rule change that allows them to confirm nominations with a simple majority. >> the united nations is asking for $6 billion to deal with the syrian refugee crisis, the largest amount of money the u.n. has ever asked for to deal with a single human forian emergency. reef gees living in tents and there are fears illness could increase. the situation is getting worse as a harsh winter falls on the region. the organization airlifted aid from iraq. the head of the u.n. agency said it's simply too dangerous to go by land. >> gas heating stoves are being distributed at a camp in jordan. more than 120,000 syrian refugees there dealing with bitter winter weather. more than 2 million refugees have fled syria and are currently living in a number of neighboring countries. >> israel and lebanon are trying to ease tensions after a deadly fair up on the bored, meeting

with united nations peacekeepers to reconfirm their ceasefire agreement. soldiers have been shot. >> russian military officials confirmed the deployment of state-of-the-art missiles to the countries baltic sea ports. neighbors lithuania and poland expressed concern, calling the move worrying. russian military officials say the missiles were moved a while ago but did not say where they are being stored. the u.s. state department urged russia not to take steps that could threaten the region. >> there could be new charges in the bombing of pan am flight 103. it went down in 1988 over scotland. the on going investigation is expected to continue to produce results. the only person ever convicted in the attack was a libyan. the crash killed all 259 onboard

the plane and 11 people on the ground. >> dozens of american sailors involved in rescue efforts involved in the nuclear plant meltdown now have cancer. that 51 sailors on the uss ronald reagan believe they were exposed to high levels of radioactive material. many say they suffer prom thyroid cancer, brain too many morse and leukemia. the sailors have filed a lawsuit against the owner of the nuclear plant. >> kim john unhas taken drastic measures to secure his power, having his powerful uncle executed for allegedly plotting to overthrow the government. we report on the country where disloyalty could lead to death. >> these men and women now know the price of crossing king kong un. his uncle was executed.

this day was a memorial for kim jong-il on oh the second overs of his death and an opportunity to publicly close ranks aren't his son. the man now said to be kim's most influential senior ally rallied the troops. >> our revolutionary forces know no other except kim jong-un. in any storm or hardship we will revere and follow only the dear supreme leader. >> kim jong-un sat through the ceremony, his grip on power strengthened by a recent purge, but also being question said by the south korean government worrying about the implications of a struggle at the top. >> the competition for showing loyalty could lead to the possibility of provokation. we consider it highly likely the north could make threats next year. >> kim jong-un has been busy, two rocket launchers, a nuclear

test and accelerated program of installing his own appointees in positions of power. that appeals beside the decision to humiliate then execute his uncle. >> this raises questions about what may be happening at the top of their system, questions won't be highlighted in public. privately, many north careens will be skeptical about this change. >> kim jong-un was accompanied by his wife to lay wreaths. those around him know now disloyalty could mean death. does that strengthen his position? >> they see themselves as corned, it means that they might take some dangerous 10s which would not be considered a few years ago, like staging a coup, a conspiracy to the regime. >> north careens have seen a public demonstration of their leader's ruthlessness and power.

the world watches as it plays out. >> former basketball star dennis rodman will travel to north korea thursday. he is one of the first americans to have ever met kim jong-un. >> ukraine's president has arrived in moscow to meet his russian counterpart and discuss potential trade options. his opposition is planning another massive demonstration to coincide with that meeting. ukrainian officials say the country could seek a loan of up to $15 billion from russia. could you crane is suffering from its third recession since 2008. we are joined from key every. good morning. help clarify for us the two deals, what russia is offering and what the e.u. are offering. why are they mutually exclusive? >> well, ukraine hopes that they're not. ukraine essentially for quite some time has been trying to

navigate this very, very delicate part between the e.u. to the west and russia to the east. ukraine for centuries has basically been hacked over by competing empires, trampled and sub. >> gated. it finally has independence, and as much as it can, would like to keep that independence. it doesn't want to agonize russia, but many in ukraine see their future as much more european. the e.u. and russia are essentially trying to tug ukraine their way. russia is playing a particularly tough game, which is why it threatens ukraine with trade embargoes and other fairly if you have tactics, but europe is trying to lure ukraine, as well. it's really back on a battle over what's going on here, which

is why you are seeing all these people on the streets. ukraine would dearly like to keep his independence and theory pick what it can from each available deal. >> there's no doubt that ukraine has an economic crisis on some level on its hands. i'm curious whether the protestors you've been speaking to feel that pain and can sympathize with the president's efforts to get some aid into that country from moscow. >> well, they certainly do feel that pain, but where i am at the moment is the capitol, so in many ways, this is where the money is, so people here tend to be more affluent. the people are not all middle class, but many of them are middle class. actually, where you feel the economic pain in ukraine is out to the east. that is the kind of industrial heartland. that is also where the strongest ties to russia are.

75% of russia's machinery exports go to russia, so that is where things are most hard for people is out in those kind of areas. >> thanks for putting all that into context for us. thanks, rory. >> there's a late season wildfire burning in northern california this morning. it has destroyed 15 homes. the fire in big sur burned 500 acres and forced 100 people to evacuate. hundreds of firefighters working throughout the night to fight those flames, the fire broke out sunday during the unseasonably warm and windy weather. for more, let's bring in meteorologist nicole mitchell. weather plays a big factor. >> absolutely. you mentioned this being late season. november through march in california we get into what is considered the rainy season, so this is late in the season to have such dry conditions, such

warm conditions and to have fires out here. not only do we have an on-shore flow acceleratings winded that spreads the fire, but it's been very dry. for los angeles, the last measurable rainfall was at the end of november, so we vice president seen any in a month that's normally a little wilier. these are how much below we are for the year in some of our different locations, and average rainfall, i mean it varies from place to place, but it's about 20 inches. los angeles runs about 15 inches, so we're eight inches under. that's over half the rain that we would normally see. san francisco is 15 under, so that's about a quarter of the rain we would normally see for a year, so we have just been so dry out here. that's accelerated the drought conditions. here's the state of california. you can see that core of extreme drought in the reds right in the central portion of the state, because we just haven't had enough rainfall this year. it's been so warm. los angeles yesterday at 85 set

a record. today, the record is 80, we could be at or above a record today. the warm air dries the vegetation out and that adds to things. it looks like we'll get a little cooler and more moisture into wednesday and thursday. back to you guys. >> ok, meteorologist nicole mitchell, thanks, nicole. >> turning back now to our top story. a judge's ruling against the n.s.a. phone jim walsh joins us now from watertown, massachusetts. good morningthis is the first td these arguments aired in public. viewers can find this opinion on

line. it's lengthy, 68 pages, heavily footnoted, sites lots of case law in some cases agrees with government claims but at the core makes a sweeping judgment expectation of privacy. >> part of the judge's reasoning was that he didn't see enough evidence that these types of surveillance were effective in preventing imminent attacks. point that i've had doubts about. this judge finds that not in a single instance was the use of

met at a data related to the prevention of a terrorist attack. so, it's the government making the claim we're going to vital your privacy but it's for the good of national security, then you have to prove that claim. you have to prove thatgle insta. that's probably the most important finding. >> keith alexander buttressing what president obama has said has also said there isn't a better way to help defend the country other than these type of n.s.a. activities. can we ever know the truth about that? what we do know i guess is that there hasn't been a m to

tolerate those actions, they just have different ways of going about from. jim walsh, thanks so much.

>> thank you. >> multi-vitamins, you take one? >> we take one every day, don't we? >> are they really providing health benefits. >> there are questions raised according to new research on those pills. >> why experts are saying you should skip the sup lements. >> hitting the picket line, the reason amazon workers are walking off the job during one of the busiest times for the on line retailer. >> $585 million is today's big number. you could snag a portion if not all of it. what it will take to become a multi-millionaire.

night with the combatants in their training base. tñ

>> the holiday season is one of the busiest times of the year for amazon. some workers have walked off the job. we'll find out why they now want to return to work. >> what amazon has to say about that, as well. >> first, meteorologist nicole mitchell, are you dreaming big, as well? >> i have a coworker that said they would take us all to italy if they won and we're all like ok, we're writing this down just in case. good luck to who have gets that. we're heading out, going to see 20's and 30's up and down the east coast.

64 in los angeles, even this morning, where as i was talking about, we could set another record high today. we also have a little bit of that warm flow moving up to places like denver or rapid city for today, so 40's, 50's, even by tomorrow, a couple more 60's cross the region and also a warm up north east coast, starting a little today and into tomorrow. but as we get into more thursday and friday, those temperatures could rebound into the 40's and even 50's, so at least there's a warm up there on the way. back to you guys. >> a warning for americans who take multi-vitamins, don't waste your money. three new studies published in the annalles of internal medicine suggest vitamin and mineral suppplements aren't living up to expectation it is. one found they do not risk death, heart disease or performance or improving memory in adults. at best, they say the

suppplements have no affect and could cause harm in some cases. >> with christmas fast approaching, amazon.com workers in germany are on strike. the movement has spread to the company's facility in seattle. >> standing here, they are joining with one striking worker, for better pay and working conditions. >> we've been trying to get amazon to bargain with us for over a year now. >> nancy becker works in the returns department at an amazon shipping facility center in germany. she said the working conditions of unhealthy especially during the summer months. >> people are just literally dropping like flies because of heat exhaustion. >> german warehouse workers say

amazon pace them just over $13.11 an hour. they are demanding a wage increase, union recognition and a bargaining agreement. amazon said it is on par with other on line retailers in europe, saying we feel it's best to work directly with our employees, not an intermediate-year. there is a protest in support. >> this cuts across national boundaries. >> the timing of the walkout in germany supporters say is not about ruining the holiday season. >> we don't want to ruin christmas and we don't want children to cry. we are not the new grinch. we are the partner of amazon and we are the strong partner of the workers. >> amazon said the german walkout will have no bearing on its holiday deliveries.

>> amazon took its largest number of orders in germany, almost 4 million items on december 16 of last year with shipments peaking on the 17th, one year ago today. >> it could be the beginning of a major change in the pharmaceutical industry, glaxo smith cline will no longer pay doctors to promote its products. it's the first drug company to drop the common practice. glaxo will also stop giving bonuses to sales staff based on the number of prescriptions written by physicians. the industry has been criticized for aggressive sales tactics. >> a two day meeting kicking off later this morning, policy leaders decide whether or not to pull back on the $85 billion a month bond buying program. one market strategist said investors are worried if the fed winds down the stimulus. >> that could i am pack the housing market, how many cars

people buy. it could impact economic active and people's portfolios. if interest rates are going up a lot, a little, in between, that's what the market is trying to feel out. >> do you futures up 18 at this hour. stocks are racing higher yesterday after two weeks of lawsuits. the dow jones industrial average begins the day at 15,884. the s&p stands at 1786, the nasdaq right now with 4,029. over seas european markets are lower. in asia, markets ended lower with nikkei higher. >> half of those who have holiday shopping plan to finish it on line. the survey finds 32 million of us haven't even started holiday shopping yet, and 10% say they won't make their final purchases until christmas eve. >> are you one of those? >> no, i am not. i finished my shopping early

this year. >> a very divisive year in congress set to come to a close. >> the agreement with the budget offering hope that partisan ship may be taking a back seat. >> the future of south africa is questioned after the death of nelson mandela, the steps some young people in that country are taking to ensure his legacy lives on. >> why pope francis is replacing one bishop on an influential panel. >> you've heard people patting themselves on the back. rinaldo has taken that to a whole new level.

>> you're waking to a live look at the stanton island ferry in new york city as people make their way to work on a snowy tuesday morning. we're expecting two to

four inches. nicole mitchell will tell us exactly how much we'll get. >> i love the snow and sledding. >> you went over the weekend. >> thomas, congress is fast approaching the end of its year, the end of its session. was, it's been marked bipartisan politics this year with the shutdown. a deal on the budget, the first closure vote gets to the senate today is a bipartisan deal and looks like it may show compromising washington. in a moment, we'll break down what's left. it's not just the budget they have to deal with, and what lies ahead for them in the coming year. >> it's been a lackluster year. we'll find out why. >> the death of nelson mandela is raising questions about the future of south africa. he was seen as a guide to the country, so many people felt safe under his leadership. we'll see how the younger generation of south africans are working to make sure nelson mandela's dreams for the country

aren't loss. >> the v.w. mini bus, new rules in brazil resulted in the end of production. that's the only place they were still produced, and that's ended. the last few models are set to roll off the assembly this week. we'll meet people still keeping them on the road. >> a lot of memories. >> first, with only a few days left in the year, it is now up to the senate to pass a budget that would stop a potential second government shutdown. republican senators agreed to vote yes on the bipartisan bill. they join senators john mccain, jeff flake, susan collins and ron johnson who committed support. add this gop group with the 53 senate democrats and two independents and that's more than the 60-volts needed to overcome a filibuster and bring it to a final vote. not everyone is on the same page

in the grand old party these days. >> are you kidding me? >> months after the gop was pushed into a failed strategy that led to a government shut down, speaker john boehner had had enough. the groups bring the power of money and action v.i.x., but boehner said he won't be pushed around. >> i don't care what they do. >> patrick hedger of freedom works said speaker boehner should care. >> i think it would be virgin wise for the speaker to once again try and reject the fact -- and push back against the grass roots movement of this country. that only lends credibility to our argument that this is washington versus america. >> hedger said the groups aren't intimidated after last week's public reprimand and this brought to light a long simmering fight. >> this just proves our message that without grassroots pressure, i don't think we'd be having this talk. >> the speaker may have pushed back in this battle, but bigger fights are ahead on capitol

hill, including a looming debt ceiling deadline and immigration reform. >> american university history professor alan lichman said don't expect boehner to come out swinging in every fight. >> this was the easiest one possible for the speaker to stand up on. he had paul ryan on his side, who is something of a darling of conservative republicans, and they didn't give up very much. >> he says speaker boehner is a pragmatist and that this may have been an opportune moment to flex some muscle. >> i think there were two things going on, i think what you see is what you got, the man blowing his top, just being frustrated in what he sees as the hard right of his party undermining the gop label. two, i think he was being strategic, telling the hard right we are not just going to sit back and take it anymore. >> in some battles, he said it will be savvier to retreat

behind the scenes rather than making public a battle for the heart and soul of the republican party. congressman paul ryan was mending fences sunday. >> i was frustrated, too, but i think these are very important elements of our conservative family. i would prefer to keep those conversations within the family. >> paul ryan and john boehner aren't at risk of losing their house seats in the 2014 elections, but to keep other republicans safe from primary challenges, they may need to appease conservative groups or they could see seats lost along with their political clout. >> for moreen what we can expect from congress for the rest of the year andpublic and internats at george mason university, joining us from washington, d.c. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> it is called a christmas miracle here, the house managed to pass a two year budget deal before leaving for the holidays. what are the chance to support

this, it looks pretty well it will pass the senate, as well. >> this is a much different congress than we experience said back in october. if you look back at the year, this is historic, the least productive, most unpopular congress since world war ii, republicans blaming democra wouldn't pass a budget and allow the federal government to continue. there's some blame on both sides, but right now, the ill will, it used to be the house that held up everything. the senate passed immigration reform, senate to the house, it

went nowhere. now the senate is creating more problems and the reason is the democrats have changed the rules for roadblocks are now covered. >> we saw bickering within the party and a decrease in the numberding the budget

deal about to be voted on. >> there's still work to be done here, the clock still ticking. what's said that the republicans are going to demand to get something in return for supporting an increase in the nation's debt ceiling, which means we could face know, all ol

set the backdrop for the mid term elections. >> it's been two months since reports emerged that the n.s.a. was listening in on german chancellor america chem's phone. even after president obama offered his assurance that the u.s. would stop tapping her calls, the fallout has continued to strain relations between the two allies. according to a report from "the new york times," german officials want the spying to stop altogether across all levels of the country, but the american leaders have refused to extend beyond the chancellor. they say they don't want to set a precedent with our countries. >> merkel has been sworn in for a third term. fellow conservatives retain a tight grip on the parliament.

>> it's been three years since a street vendor burned himself to death hoping to bring an end to economic hardships and oppression there. his act unleashed pro tests that toppled leaders in egypt, and yemen. three years on, not much has changed. unemployment remains stuck at 15%. >> in south africa, unemployment hovers at 30% and despite the legacy left behind by nelson mandela, widespread poverty still exists. we report on how a younger generation of south africans are hoping to change that. >> just a few miles from nelson mandela's burial site, he fears his legacy is being lost. >> we are oppressing ourselves more than before. >> the family who lived here for a decade, the same rural black south africa where mandela grew

up. she said they have little economic freedom. >> are you worried about your own future? >> yes, i don't know if i'll be able to find a job without having to move away to another place. >> up the road, the closest city, 19-year-old fred has the same fears. he's got a search that job at this restaurant. the area is modernizing but suffers from drug use and crime. >> it's really a bad thing especially along this area. the security is not that tight. >> both wonder if south africa can prosper without the man they call father. >> right now, everyone is questioning what is going to happen next. are we going to be able to survive and actually make it improve more. >> mandela said fulfilling his dream depended on the younger generation. >> before you were born, he really was known all over the

whole world. >> fred's father never had the opportunities his son has. every day, he reminds fred not to squander them. >> the future is bright for them if they struggle to get to the top, if you don't sit down. >> parents who struggled to end apartheid urged their kids to strive for a better life. >> i have a vision that my daughter can be something, which is very important. that. >> it's a rallying cry both embrace. fred is studying civil engineering. he wants to get his degree, return home and build his community. >> we should also have the spirit that we shouldn't give up on where we want to go, what we want to do and how we want to do it. we should always strive for the best as he strived for freedom for us. >> his friends hope for the

future. >> their futures are bright right now. >> they are waiting. >> she is studying to be a lawyer and dreams of being on a national stage. >> you see a child in the grass, right? they start walking. when they see they can walk, they run. why is it as a nation we don't do that? we saw that we are liberated, now we have the freedom, use it wisely. >> a generation that received the freedom he helped create now working to fulfill his dreams. >> south africa has more than 10 million jobless people and half are between the ages of 15-24. >> the house ethics committee voted to investigate a florida congressman who admitted to buying cocaine. they must determine whether raddle violated congressional rules. he was sentenced to one year of probation and is currently on

leave from congress receiving treatment as a drug rehab facility in florida. >> an s.u.v. stolen during a fatal carjacking at a new jersey malwas found, recovered in newark, just 10 miles from the mal. police say 30-year-old dustin freedland was shot. he had been christmas shopping with his wife. a $10,000 reward is offered for information leading to their arrest. >> the parents of a colorado school gunman are apologizing for their son's actions. carl pearson stormed into the high school and shot claire davis, a high school senior as point-blank range before taking his own life. in a statement, pearson's parents said they are shattered by the tragic events that took place. our thoughts and prayers are with claire davis and their family. they and she ever suffered unimaginably and we pray for her

full recovery. >> pope francis is trying to include a church, removing a cardinal drop the committee that appoints bishops. the cardinal is a strong critic of same sex marriage and abortion. he was replaced with a bishop from washington, d.c., considered more moderate on social issues. >> big headlines out of the soccer world monday, tarting with the world cup host country. we have more in sports. >> there's a lot going on this morning especially in brazil, to the stadium in brazil set to host the world cup. it would be a huge understatement if we were to say that it has problems. the construction workers walked off the job after a worker fell 100 feet to his death this weekend. this markion the third death in a month at the work site. what you are now seeing is footage of the previous

construction work at the stadium and just to give you a feel of what type of work done, the estimated 1800 workers that walked off the job there protesting safety conditions, and what they describe as pressure to speed up the project. meanwhile, while the world cup kicks off in june, there is still big time soccer being played before then. we get a look at the draw. a very high profile pairing, each team is going to be on the road to begin the round. we talked to former real madrid star to get his thoughts on the draw. >> they wanted to find manchester or national, the two biggest teams in the second

group, so it was bad luck for barcelona. let's wait and see what's happening in the games. >> most people have to wait for an honor to be bestowed upon them. rinaldo did it himself, opened a museum in his own honor in his own hometown over the weekend. he is known for his boots on the pitch and proudly provided a tour of the facility. the mantra may be hey, i'm great, just ask me. it includes a chipped trophy from his very first club at the age of eight. he has left space for more tree fees to come. >> i always feel happy when i whip trophies, individual trophies. for me, all the tree fees is important, individual, so i feel happy. of course i want to win more in the future, but i feel very happy. >> meanwhile, fans at times fieldhouse in indiana have been

happy for the home team all season long. before last night's game with detroit, the pacers had the best record in the eastern conference and frank vogel and company have been a perfect 11-0 at home. check out the efforts from the visiting team player josh harrelson. josh smith puts it in, they were up early on. paul george trying to pick up the pace, nails the triple. indiana would trail by seven at the break, so the pistons come out after half time josh smith scoring including the driving lay in. brandon jennings comes up with the dagger, knocking down the triple from the top there. the pistons win 101-96, happened in the pacers the first loss of the season. >> lebron james tweaked his ankle in the heats win over the jazz. even on the bum ankle, he stayed in, the game dropped 30 points, pulled down nine rebounds and

had nine assists. that is a look at sports this injure got to get the job done, right? yeah. thank you. >> buying an original painting, by george zimmerman. >> he is auctioning off one of his works. >> how much some have bid on it already. >> you don't buy a car, you enter a relationship, and i feel it. i feel this car. >> it's the end of the road for an iconic vehicle, a look at some of the people who have kept the jokes wagon mini bus rolling for decades. >> celebrating a milestone in innovation for aviation, the major moment the wright brothers changed the way we travel.

>> good morning, to aljazeera america. i've stephanie sy. >> i'm thomas drayton. good to have you with us. they are a symbol of the 1960's, the volkswagen bus has kept rolling for decades now. why new regulations are bringing

an end to the production of the beloved bus. >> let's check on the rain and snow we're looking at across the sufficient. huge nicole mitchell is back. >> the snow especially is infiltrating more of the northeast this morning, dry across the western half of the country. you can see this very quick moving clipper has moved into new york, cities getting snow in connecticut this morning. it is going to be moving out quickly. it's already from yesterday, moved out of canada, moved the core of the lows from around the great lakes we'll get off coast today. picking up more moisture, the place will see the heaviest moisture will be the northern portions of new england. a couple isolated spots could see up to a foot. back to you. >> as nicole mentioned, earlier, los angeles is about to mark it's dryest year on record. since january 1, the region has only seen 3.5-inches of rain, a quarter less than the downtown area would see in a year.

the previous record was set more than 60 years ago. meteorologists say it comes as no surprise since much of the southwest has suffered from drought this year. >> george zimmerman is taking ebay by storm. the former neighborhood watch man posted an original painting on the site setting off a bidding war. the signed painting raised tens of thousands of dollars. it has skyrocketed to more than $99,000, earlier this year, he was acquitted in the shooting death of tray job martin. >> it is the end of an era for an icon of the road, the volkswagen bus has been one of those vehicles you could always here coming before you actually saw i. on friday, the last of these mini buses will roll offer the line in brazil, bringing an end to a 33 year long chapter. some people aren't ready to say goodbye. >> it's been three years since dave left his home in san diego,

california to drive up and down south america in his volkswagen bus. the vehicle is a little beat up, but full of personality, and quite reliable, he says. >> the only time i've have had to take the motor out was in ecuador and put some new piston rings on it, that's it. >> like most owners of v.w. vans, their love affair with the vehicle is something different. >> you don't buy a car, you enter a relationship, and i feel it. i feel this car. >> he and other oh v.w. bus lovers gathered in sao paulo to hold a farewell party 63 years after it was introduced on the market. volkswagen is discontinuing production before the end of the year. since 1975, this v.w. factor in sao paulo is the last place in the world it is made. 140 a day are produced here, but

how, they're assembling the final few. >> there's a new law that goes into effect here in brazil january 1 that says all new vehicles sold have to come equipped standard with airbags and anti lock breaks. for the v.w. bus, there's no way to retrofit the vehicles to accommodate that, so the people at volkswagen thought it better to just retire it. >> for owners back at the going away party, there was non-stop talk about their adventures with the vehicle. a map inside his vehicle traces everywhere it's been. he's taken it to three world cups and driven it in dozens of countries in four different continents. >> when i am traveling in it, it's where i eat, where i sleep. when i'm tired, i stop the car and spend the night with her. >> spoken like a true v.w. lover, will have to carry on the

legacy of those still on the road, now that no more will be made. aljazeera, sao paulo. >> like volkswagen's famous beetle, the van has several nicknames worldwide. because of its popularity during the 60's, it was of course called the hip pee van. >> today marks a big day for aviation. 1903, the wright brothers made their first flight on the beach. the anniversary will be marked with ceremonies of the nearby wright brothers national museum. >> at the end of our second hour, del walters joins us. good morning, del. >> a federal judge ruling that some of those tactics used by the n.s.a. are likely unconstitutional, the judge saying the phone call surveillance program could vital your privacy rights. >> the senate set to bring that bipartisan budget bill to the floor of the house today, the senate, rather, for procedural vote. >> the president of ukraine

seeking a loan of $15 billion in moscow. those opposed plan yet another massive demonstration in key every. >> the watchdog group overseeing the removal of chemicals in syria, an update to the disposele of that arsenal and the challenges that still remain. >> a battle for control of the north pole. we'll look at dispute over the arctic and the countries involved fighting so hard. >> i'm meteorologist nicole mitchell. i'll explain how the weather conditions factor into fire conditions in the west. we'll show you who is getting know this morning in the northeast. >> the aljazeera morning news continues. del is back in two and a half minutes. >> thanks for joining us.

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>> a federal judge delivering a strong blow to the n.s.a. saying the collection of millions of u.s. phone records is likely unconstitutional. >> how do you cope me? >> newly released audio recordings of the elite hotshots, capturing the final moments of the 19 firefighters who died battling that wildfire last summer. >> ukraine's president in moscow looking for money to avert an economic crisis while thousands crowd into key every, demanding that he step down. >> it's an increasingly popular form of refiremen investing, a closer look at the pros and cons

of target date mutual funds. why it might not be the best way to invest your money. >> good morning. welcome to aljazeera america. i'm del walter. it was a strongly worded opinion, a federal judge using words like in discriminate, arbitrary, describing the n.s.a.'s domestic surveillance program, suggesting it might all be unconstitutional. it is a big blow since edward snowden released information. president bush signed the patriot act into law. the n.s.a. was allowed to collect communications of millions of americans. september of 2007, microsoft signed on, becoming the first major firm to cooperate with an n.s.a. program called prism, giving the n.s.a. access to search histories, emails and

live chatteds. yahoo, google and facebook quickly followed suit. in june of 2013, reports of the n.s.a.'s data collection programs made public, after edward snowden leaked documents to the british newspaper the guardian. the latest blow came to the program yesterday when a federal judge ruling that the n.s.a. is in all likelihood what it's doing is unconstitutional. stephanie sy has our story. >> a once secret program suffers another blow in a court of law. in a sharply worded ruling against the n.s.a.'s far-reaching phone activities, a federal judge said they likely vital the constitution. the ruling comes after judge richard leon of the u.s. district court in washington, d.c. ordered the government to stop collecting melt at a data on the calls of the two plaintiffs who brought the case. >> met at a data allows the government to tell whoever you're associated with, your doctor, lawyer, accountant, whoever. it's extremely intimidating.

>> judge leon appointed by president george w. bush in 2002 concluded the program infringes on the fourth amendment which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures. he wrote: >> he further added: >> the justice democratic was quick to respond to the ruling by stating: >> there will be no immediate changes to the n.s.a.'s program. the judge stayed his ruling,

allowing the government to file an appeal, which could take six months. the appeal would likely be supported by president obama, who is a staunch defender of the program. >> we'd save lives. we know of at least if i have threats that have been averted because of this information, so lives have been saved. >> to edward snowden, the man who first revealed the n.s.a.'s secrets to the world in june, the ruling is vindication. snowden, living in russia, where he was granted asylum issued a staple saying: >> meanwhile, despite suggestion that snowden be given amnesty in exchange for ending the leaks, the white house stood its ground. >> mr. snowden has been accused of leaking classified information, and faces felony charges here in the united

states. he should be returned to the united states as soon as possible where he will accorded full due process and protections. >> the judge in this case ruling counter to the secret counter intelligence court of fisa, judges signing off on the once secret program dozens of time. just who is judge richard leon, the man behind the ruling? he's a republican first nominated by george w. bush in 2001, confirmed later in 2002. he's best known for rulings in cases involving guantanamo bay detainees, backing the administration saying foreign prisoners had no way to challenge in court. he ruled against the bush white house when he decided that five prisoners had been illegally held at guantanamo bay for nearly seven years. >> the n.s.a. likely to abhot at

thattic today when the president meets with top tech executives from apple, google, yahoo, twitter and several other big companies, discussing the recent efforts to rare healthcare.gov. it has been two months since the n.s.a. information that they were tapping the phone calls of angela merkel from germany. germans want spying to stop altogether across the country. the u.s. is reversing to extend the no spying guarantee beyond the chance lower, saying they don't want to create a precedent with other countries. >> merkel sworn in this morning for a third term at germany's chancellor. she won reelection in september, but it took her months to assemble a cabinet and new

coalition. aljazeera's barnaby phillips has more. >> angela merkel has been given the mandate for a third term at chancellor by the german parliament. that was always a formality, but she has been forced into a marriage of convenience, what in germany is called a grand coalition with her own center right christian departments and left senate democrats. undoubtedly, there will be tensions and difficulties within this alicense. the social democrats are more to the left. they have pushed for the introduction of a minimum wage and then increase in pensions for some german workers. there are people in america chem's party who worry that that will undermine the competitiveness of the german economy, but her own authority is undiminished. she did so well in september's elections and towers above the political scene here in germany a reassuring, calm presence for

most german people. >> some of you are going to be looking at more snow today. nicole mitchell is here to explain why the snow could come and go before you even know it. >> even when there is snow on the ground, we know something happened. this is a quick mover, and there's a reason why. you can see this screaming this morning through the great lakes into the northeast. we are going to watch that for places like new york starting to move into portions of connecticut. there is what we call an alberta clipper. they usually get caught up in the jetstream. that core of fast-moving, upper-level winds justify pulls them along quickly, so already from yesterday, being in canada, this morning through the great lakes and then that low will continue off the coastline. because it will get off the coastline, that will pick up a little more moisture, more moisture for new england. here's a couple of the totals. some isolated spots in new

england could get a foot or more because of that, otherwise new york city for example, probably two to four inches, maybe three to five in boston. as i said, tapers off south to north, pretty quickly already by this evening as all that clears out. while we felt a little maybe too much snow, great lakes in northeast has been the opposite problem on the west coast. we've been very dry and in fact we have that fire going on in big sur. you can see no more moisture on the radar right now. any onshore flow, the influence why the fire has spread is one concern. we are staying very warm, drying out the vegetation. you can see a lot of california, especially the central portion in that extreme drought right now, because we have that deficit. these are deficits for the area, a lot of places less than half the typical rainfall. >> in washington now, all eyes are on the senate, a vote set later today to bring that bipartisan budget bill to the

floor. erika joins us with the very latest. is there an agreement on the horizon. >> the senators have voiced opposition to the bill that are written by paul ryan and patty murray. after the house overwhelmingly without this last week, more and more republican senators starting to support it, which is why it appears there is enough support to clear this key vote. >> senate republicans do not want to be blamed for a second government shutdown, so one by one, they are stepping up to the plate to bring the bipartisan budget bill to the floor. >> four republicans have already said they'd be for it and i'm sure the republican leadership, i would bet is not going to risk another government shutdown. >> since the bill sailed through the house last week, speaker john boehner and one of the budget's main architect congressman paul ryan have worked behind the scenes to make their counter parts in the senate sign on, too. with senate democrats united, the bill needs at least five senate republicans to route yes.

so far, senators ever supported it. others joined up. add this group of republicans with the 53 senate democrats, and two independents, and they have more than the 60 votes it needs toover come a filibuster threat for a final vote. >> i hope it will pass the senate. i'll do anything -- not anything, but we must not shut down the government again. >> some key republicans refused to stand down and back the bill. >> we agreed not to oh spend over this level. this i also our spending limit. >> the deal does not extend unemployment benefits or reduce the cut in food stamps. in the new agreement, federal workers pay more toward pensions and airport security fees are hikes. some admit this is missing serious reforms for their side, too. >> entitlement reforms so socially security, medicare and

medicate will be there 30 years from now. that means both sides are going to have to give. >> final approval will be voted on tomorrow, saying the legislation will help break a terrible cycle of governing by crisis. then it goes to the president's desk where president obama has said he will sign it. >> we saw some key republican senators staunchly opposed to this bill, are we to assume perhaps that politics might be involved? >> that's probably a pretty good assumption. analysts definitely saying this. we have the 2016 run, you saw mitch mcconnell and john cornyn in the story there, both up for reelection, facing tough primaries. you've got hand paul, marco rubio, ted cruz with possible presidential aspirations. they could potentially say hey, they caved in when we voted on

not having at many budget cuts. >> politics in washington hard to believe. >> the new secretary of homeland security will be sworn in by week's ends. jay johnson confirmed by the nat is a former pentagon lawyer. he'll oversee national security, disaster response and transportation. jay johnson following janet napolitano. he is just one of a series of confirmations pushed through the senate since democrats changed the way the body operates, changing the rules to confirm nominations with a simple majority vote. >> the president of south sudan has defeated the attempts to overthree him. heavy gunfire and explosions rocking the capitol city for two days promising the u.s. embass to close. dozens of troops have died in that region since. aljazeera is live from nairobi. the south sudan army is divided between those supporting the president and those in favor of

the former vice president fired in july. you just spoke to the vice president's spokesperson. what did he have to say? >> yes, del, up until now, we had only heard one version of the story, that being the one given to us by the president who accused his former deputy, former vice president who he tired in july as masor minding this alleged attempted coup. the spokesperson of the former vice president refused to comment on those allegations. he was very stern, saying i do not want to comment on this, but of course i wanted to find out exactly the whereabouts of the former vice president, and he told me that he has not been arrested, that he's still in the capitol and "fine, very fine." the government is seeking his arrest and arrested five other political leaders who are supportive of the vice president. it has to be said that the former vice president has a lot

of political support, but not necessarily a lot of support among the army, which still predominantly supports the president. del. >> south sudan gaining independence from sudan more than two years ago. has it been a smooth transition for the new country? >> >> far from, actually. southern sudan has had a very turbulent time over the past few months and years. we've seen a renewed estimate, clashes, of course, tribalism is a major problem in that part of the country, trying to quell issues in southern sudan. the on going personality clash between the president and former vice president, the man accused of masterminding this alleged coup. a lot of political aspirations between these two men, the long-standing rivalry, feeding into accusations that the

president has been trying to consolidate, has power to tighten his grip over the country and constantly give the upper hand to his own tribe, so a very difficult really for southern sudan. >> joining us live from nairobi, kenya, thank you very much. >> the final communications from an elite team of firefighters who died in an arizona wildfire. >> >> we'll tell you what the audio recording reveals about the last moments of the firefighters. >> target date mutual funds. millions of americans have them in though portfolios. why some say it might not be the best way for to you save for retirement. five countries now staking their claim on the north pole. why this is such a hot commodity. tñ

>> ruer looking live right now, the terminal for the stanton island ferry.

yes, you can see snow on the ground. white stuff falling earlier this morning, but not enough to really cause a major traffic nightmare. as for you, welcome back to aljazeera america. will you need your coat when you go outside today? for that, we check in with nicole mitchell. >> a lot of the country, we seem to always need the coat this team of year. chicago at 19 degrees, even as far south at houston, we have temperatures in the 30's, so it is brisk, a little below average as we get toward a portion of the south. i want to pointous los angeles, at 61 right now. that's closer to our average high temperature. yesterday, we set a record high at 85 and today with a forecast right around 80 degrees is the current record, so we could match or possibly even set a new record today, too. of course, there's warm air we've been talking about, also causing problems with the fire danger and conditions here. as we get from today into

tomorrow, those temperatures go down in a lot of cases, about 10 degrees, so that will help the situation. we have a core warm air in the central station, denver makes it up to 60 degrees and the east coast a little tomorrow and toward the weekend also starts a warming trend. >> miami, 76 degrees, thank you very much. >> they're called hotshots, have one of the most dangerous jobs on the plan they got. instead of running fires, they rush in. last summer, 19 men in an elite unit dying battling a blaze in arizona, now the audio of their final moments has been released. john siegenthaler has more. >> haunting images capturing the desperate efforts to each 19 elite firefighters trapped in an inferno. the final words of the granite mountain hotshots, who died in the line of duty battling the

fire in arizona last year: >> the response comes, though not immediately, from the command center. >> the recordings reveal confusion. here, one unseen firefighter tries identify the voice of another. >> knowing time is slipping away, the dispatcher makes an urgent request for a helicopter. >> and then, the final transmission.

>> the command center zeuss confirm the location. there was no reply. when the firefighters reached the men, it was too late. they had all per issued. an investigation concluded that a breakdown in communication hey contributed to the tragedy. >> that is aljazeera's john siegenthaler reporting. 8400-acres were blackened, making it the deadliest wildfire in 80 years. >> a late season wildfire burning in northern california, destroying 15 homes. the fire in big sur burning 500 acres and forcing 100 people

to evacuate, firefighters working through the night to fight the blames, the fire breaking out on sunday during that warm and windy weather. that is unusual this time of year. >> here's what's making news in the financial markets. federal reserve kicking off its last meeting of the year in a few hours. the two day gathering will be closely watched, investigators looking for clues to when the bond buying program might be pulled back on, one fed watcher saying policy makers could scale back sooner than we expect. >> seeing a gradual removal of the support it's been giving to markets in the economy, and now that markets appear to be a little more prepared for it, and the unemployment figures picking up, i get the sense that the fed might move this week. again, it's a very close you'll wall street playing it close to the vest, do you futures up. stocks rallying yesterday after two weeks of losses, the dow jones industrial average beginning the day at 15,084.

the s and p. standing at 1786 and the nasdaq at 4,029. european markets are lower after posting their best rally in two months yesterday. asia, markets end the day lower, but the nikkei was in the plus column. >> it could be the beginning of major changes in the pharmaceutical industry. glaxo smith cline says it will no longer pay doctors to promote its products, the first drug company to drop that common practice. they will stop giving bonuses to sales staff based on the number of prescriptions written by doctors. the industry has been criticized for aggressive sales tactics. >> half of those who still have to do holiday shopping plan to do it on line. that that is the most since the national retail federation you began tracking consumer trends 11 years ago. the survey finds 32 million of you haven't started your holiday

shopping yet, myself included. they say they will not make their final purchases until christmas eave, myself included. >> those winter storms aren't precluding people from hitting the roads this season. 32 million people will be traveling. more than 94 million people will be traveling between christmas and new year, marking the fifth straight year travel volume has increased. >> it's an investment many americans don't know they have in though portfolio or even understand, target date mutual funds. investment in those funds exploded. it's more than half a trillion dollars this year alone. the attraction is that they claim to work for you, rebalancing investment strategies as you move forward. we or. >> what's the mutual fund industry's no-brainer when it comes to retirement planning?

target date mutual fund. >> we call it a target date fund. >> how is this supposed to make saving for retirement easier? >> you are missing the bigger message here, simplicity. >> a lively debate makes it sound simple, pick your retirement date, find a fund to match and forget about it. >> we invest them for our target date of retirement. if you're going to retire in 2025, you buy a 2025 fund. >> they are generally control prized of a mix of stock and bond funds. the further away your retirement, the more money you hold in stock. that's the risky part of your portfolio designed to generate growth. as your target date glides closer, the money is glided into bonds with the idea that the money you need will be safer there. if you're retiring in 2025, by the time you get there, your fund may have a mix of 30% stocks and if he didn't% i have not bonds and cash.

before the market crash of 2008, many funds closer to their target date had closer invests in stocks. >> these funds lost almost 38% of their value in that year and a half time span where we saw the market decline. that that was a problem. >> analysts point out that the auto pilot approach to retirement planning may not work for everyone. >> if you're a late starter and you jump into a 20-30 fund or 20-20 fund one might need to take more risk. on the other hand, if you have somebody who started at 18 years old and now 60 and retiring in five years, they can certainly be in that proper glide path. there is the idea that one size does not fit all. >> first introduced in the early 1990's, target date funds surged after 2006 when president bush signed the pension act. if you don't choose your own

investments, you may be automatically defaulted into a target date fund. >> the size of the industry has skyrocketed to more than 500 funds with close to $600 billion in assets. vanguard said by 2017, 55% of 401q participants will have their whole retirement account invested in a target date fund. >> they are moving towards the target date or the mixed asset type of fund, and i think that's going to continue. >> that makes it imperative that the industry and employers continue to educate the public about the pros and cons of target date funds. aljazeera, new york. >> the s.c.c. and labor department are looking into the regulations to increase disclosure of the target date fund frees. >> pro tests continue in kiev, what's at take for russia and ukraine when it comes to their

economic relationship. >> how the results of this week's votes could impact next year's mid term elections. >> road blocks to solving cold cases involving the ku klux klan. the long wait for justice. >> monday night football, we're going to show you how tucker kicked the ravens closer to the a.f.c. north title. we're going to have to more coming up in sports. (vo) al jazeera america we understand that every news story begins and ends with people. >> the efforts are focused on rescuing stranded residents. (vo) we pursue that story beyond the headline, past the spokesperson, to the streets. >> thousands of riot police deployed across the capitol. (vo) we put all of our global resources behind every story. >> it is a scene of utter devastation. (vo) and follow it no matter where it leads, all the way to you. al jazeera america. take a new look at news.

>> welcome back to aljazeera america. there is a battle taking place in the north pole. according to the u.s. geological survey, the arctic has 30% of the untapped reserves of natural gas and oil. despite below freezing temperatures, canada, russia,

denmark, our panel. good morning, both of you. let's get a lay of the land here. i want you to look at this graphic. the disputing territories, here's a map of the countries that claim different parts of the arctic and north pole. here are the economic zones belonging to each country. they are limited to 200 nautical miles from their coastline. finally, the lighter colored areas are the areas in dispute. given what we're seeing here, who gets to decide who wins, who loses and how much territory arn

them. >> and, rob, we should point out that this has gotten a little testy. on december 10th, the russian president saying russia will send military forces in next year and he is responding to canada's recent claims concerning the north pole.

a changing geopolitical environment. >> russian explorers actually planted a russian flag 14,000 feet below the north pole. what are their plans for the arctic? >> russia's interest derives largely from the fact tha the no through three large rivers, each the equivalent of the entire mississippi river valley. in the future, decades in the future, it has the potential to be not just an enclosed heart land, but a trading power, a manufacturing power, so russia's very interested in ensuring that it has freedom of access through the north. as such, it's basically rebuilt its capability that it had

power. it's interest i go largely economic for the future. >> we're talking about 30% of the world's natural gas, 15% of its oil. is this not all about monas kaio about security, because the other factor that the russians have to take into account is that their nuclear deterrent is still their number one policy for security as it is for the americans, brits and french. the submarine forces regulating their new nuclear deterrent has to go into the ocean. you get the money for oil oil, .

>> no discussion about the north pole would be complete without denmark. what does denmark using

equidistance as a way to determine the boundary between canada and denmark and canada and -- or denmark and russia will be. on the graphic, you'll see that the north pole actually is a little bit closer to denmark than any other

countries. for the real talk of the arctic and future, it's still an issue of just being out there on the surface. >> thank you very much for being with us, north pole no longer about just santa. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> ukraine's embattled president is meeting with the russian president today in moscow, his opposition planning another demonstration to coincide with those meetings. protestors have demanded greater integration with the european union. >> lithuania and poland express

concerns. russian officials have moved a while ago but won't say where. the united states you guess russia to avoid taking steps in that region. >> protestors in cairo paying tribute to 17 people killed at a sit in two years ago. >> the demonstrators waving white flags with the faces of those killed, the protestors also calling for an end to military rule in egypt. >> hope was brought to families still searching for answers dating all the way back to the civil rights era. so far, over 100 racially motivated killings have been investigated and closed, but some questions from that era linger. aljazeera's andy gallagher has more from mississippi. >> in the back woods of mississippi, two sisters return to a dark place from their

childhood. >> we lost our father here. our mother lost her husband here, and today is about the opportunity to say daddy, we're still seeking the truth. >> in 1964, catherine and shirley's father, clifton walker was ambushed by a group of white men and shot. these women were barely teenagers at the time and despite a lengthy investigation, the first contact with the f.b.i. was when they were handed a letter telling them the case was closed. >> you located me to bring me a letter stating that you're closing the case, but yet, you neve took time to meet with our family to discuss any findings or any interviews concerning our father, clifton walker. >> it's an outcome that doesn't surprise cold case project reporter ben greenberg, who spent years investigating the walker murder and claims the f.b.i. agents assigned to the case didn't appear the resources

or will to thoroughly investigate the racially motivated killing. >> this is an opportunity to wage the war on america's demons from its racist past, and that has not been delivered and the opportunity to bring that to bear on this history is diminishing with every day. >> at the f.b.i.'s headquarters in washington, we put those accusations to the man now in charge of the cold case initiative. their aim is to prosecute, but even when that doesn't happen, he said the project is a success. >> in terms of putting the evidence together, putting those stories together, that we have achieved something, historically, we've achieved something to tell the tale about exactly what happened and hopefully bring closure to the families of the victims. >> since the cold case initiative began, no one has been brought to justice, all the f.b.i. said they're confident prosecutions will follow. for the walker family and many

others, who's cases are now being closed, there is an overwhelming accepts of disappointment that their cases weren't taken as seriously as perhaps they could have been. >> for many in the deep south, cases like walker's murder are a reminder of a time many would rather forget, but for some, a wound that will never heal. >> we want the world to know we will never stop. >> we can't say it's justice. >> about five years ago in 2008, congress passing the emmitt til unsolved civil rights act gives the justice democratic $10 a year to involve unsolved racially motivated deaths before 1970. >> the right to change the name of a school that was named after a k.k.k. leader. the school board renamed nathan b. forest high school in

jacksonville florida, an on line petition there gathering 100,000 people upset by the name of that school. it was named after forest, one of the creators of the k.k.k. students and alum any voting on that name. more than half of the students are african-american. >> the national institutes of health will use part of a $30 million grant from the nfl to conduct research involving athletes in traumatic brain injuries, part of the league's efforts to study the long term affects of concussions and c.t.e. the $12 million of that will be used by researchers at boston university and mount sinai in new york, both working to identify c.t.e. in living patients. until now, that has only been identified in autopsies. another $2 million will be split between projects, including $100,000 for children's hospital in seattle. the hospital has a program that studies high school athletes who suffer from concussions, as well. >> we saw a rather unlikely hero

last night as the nflle teams cram bell for playoff spots. >> it's one thing to be beaten by the defending superbowl champions, but another to be beaten by their kicker. in detroit, tough to swallow as the ravens and lions battle for playoff spots. using the legs to get the home team on the board, 14 yards. he used his legs at ravens just used the one foot of justin tucker, this 49-yard field goal, a 15-10 baltimore lead. mat stafford hooks up for the lions to get a 1 point lead late in the fourth. final 40 seconds, ravens again, goes to the kicker, tucker squeaks it over the crossbar, a 61-yarder for the win. the longest of his career, the second longest in monday night football history, tucker a

perfect 6-6 on the night and accounted for all the ravens scoring. he also helped himself out in the process. i'll let him explain. >> i was getting hit up, actually quite a bit on the twitter sphere leading up to the game for a calm days, people in their fancy playoff matchups. those are very important. i'm glad to come through, of course for my team here, my reality team, but also for all my fantasy owners, big thank you for picking me up. it means a lot to me and hopefully i can continue to contribute to the successes of your respective teams. >> whenever i watched it, i watched the snap and looked like he did a good job of getting the ball down, and then you kind of can't tell too much from where we are. you see a guy put his hand up. we see him hit those kicks every day in practice. >> i hope you got the sense of

his sarcasm from the kick. meanwhile, baltimore's second road win of the season changed the landscape of both conference playoff packages. the ravens won four straight and slight into the six seed ahead of the dolphins 8-6. it puts baltimore just one game behind the division leading bengals who they have already beaten once this season and face in the final week of the regular season. in the n.f.c., the loss for detroit may have been the final dagger for the lions who controlled their destiny all season now until now. the bears now sit there. detroit are behind the packers. for now, carolina panthers and 49ers have a grip on the final two spots in the n.f.c. >> there is neve a dull moment in the big d., whether the

cowboys are winning or losing, there's controversy. one of the catalysts have been since his rainfall that of dez bryant. sunday, during the cowboy's collapse against the packers, bryant became the talk of sports when he left the field as the packers were kneeling down on the ball for the win. many called the act selfish at this time during his team's darkest moment of the 2013 season. bryant faced the music monday and candidly told the press why he left the field. >> first i'll start by saying that was not the right thing to do, you know, was to, you know, walk back in. i wasn't looking at it, you know, that way, how people portray me how i look, which i understand. i'm a very emotional player. i've always been that way you, and i got to do a better job of controlling my emotions. >> that is a look at sports this

hour. del, you didn't want to see him crying. >> i'm a redskins fan. i do it every sunday. >> i feel your pain. >> when we come back, the united nations asking the world for billions of dollars in relief, help to help the hundreds of thousands of syrian ref fees. why this time the appeal is so unprecedented. >> a clipper moving through the northeast, when it moves in, when it moves out and how much snow we have in the meantime, it's all coming up.

>> from our headquarters in

>> welcome back to aljazeera america. straight ahead, the united nations asking for billions of dollars in aid, trying to deal with syria's unprecedented humanitarian crisis. we're going to find out why all that have money is needed when we talk to a spokesperson from the numb. >> as we get out the door this morning, we've had a clipper moving into the northeast, a little snow behind that. you're seeing some hit and miss spots in parts of wisconsin. as this moves through, it is

moving quickly. even today in the northeast, it will clear out south to north, some places already by this afternoon will be out of the snow and not a lot of accumulation with a couple exceptions. you can see this morning, new york getting it. it's moving more into parts of connecticut, riled right now, as all of this progresses northward, though, the actually low pressure system that just has come barreling along will come off the coastline and pick up more moisture. the one place we could see more snow accumulations is the extreme pores of new england. isolated spots could get a foot. new york, maybe two to four-inches, boston, a little more, possibly three to five, but nice part of this is it moves through quickly, by tomorrow, more sunshine. del. >> a syrian refugee crisis is pushing neighboring countries to the brink. the bitter winter is making matters worse. the u.n. is seeking

unprecedented aid trying to help those displaced from their host countries with more than a month to go before we are i can't begins peace negotiations. the u.s. is now saying a ceasefire is necessary, needed for talks to succeed. >> we've been urging and appealing that there should be a humanitarian access and there should be cross border humanitarian convoy, and most importantly, this fighting must stop. the fighting must stop. >> the number of syrians fleeing their homes because of that civil war has now topped 2 million, that is the largest number of refugees since 1994, that is when people are fleeing the genocide in rwanda and blood shed in the former yugoslavia. >> college degrees are a prospect for an unlikely population. they are prison inmates in tennessee. we look closer at incarcerated

inmates and helping them earn college educations and change their lives in the process. >> donna mccoy is serving a life sentence for first degree murder. for just a few hours, she's able to swap her prison uniform for a cap and gown. >> i feel like i'm being redeemed, restored. >> it was the first graduation at the tennessee prison for women. eight inmates received associates degrees in liberal arts through david lipskomb in nashville. lipskomb has come in to teach. >> the classes weren't easy. i felt like i have really earned a degree. >> we were never looked down on as inmates, we were always considered students. >> each woman had to earn 63 credit hours. >> there have been a lot of voices in their lives to tell them that they don't matter and they don't count, and now they

can illustrate that they are somebody, they can work hard and achieve success, and they can model that to their families, their children, and to the larger society. >> the program also allows traditional students to come into the prison and take classes with the inmates, bringing in outside perspectives and allowing the students inside to experience the more traditional college settings. lipskomb says the prom is life o. changing, pointing to studies that show higher education reduces the likelihood of exconvicts gag back to prison. >> or antoineette, it is a way to give back. >> it is a community. there are women here who will be getting out. now i have the tools to help them. >> why was it so important to finish this?

>> to show her that even though i failed, i still can pick myself back up and grow. >> there are 30 women enrolled. the next class is set to graduate in less than two years. at 57 years old, donna mccoy knows she may neve leave prison, but with a diploma now has found a different kind of freedom. jonathan martin, aljazeera, nashville. >> it takes the women about seven years to finish their associates degree. >> country music fans around the world mourn the death of ray prays. his long career began in the 1950's. he was a pioneer of what we all now know as honky tonk. a member of the country music hall of fame, he had been fighting pancreatic cancer.

he was 87 years young. >> nirvana ready to become a member of the hall of fame. the class was announced monday including peter gabrielle, known for his stage antics and technical achievement in studio. all and oates also made it in. kiss, fame owls for their costumes, makeup and legions of loyal fans, and as well as singer linda ronstadt from the 1970's, and cat stevens, the congress writer back on stage now after a long retirement from the music business. >> that's going to do it for this hour of aljazeera america. thanks for joining us. there's more news straight ahead in just two minutes.