>> >> welcome to al jazeera america. i'm del walters. these are the stories we are following for you. hackers target target. a senior u.s. official warning of travel and traveling to the central african republic. plus more fire power for security officers here in one georgia school district. ♪ the secret service is now look going the security breach at target. over the last month thieves

broke in and stole the debit and credit card information of 40 million of its customers. it continued all the way up until this past sunday. hackers lifting data from cards as they were swiped at cash registers. >> that is a huge breach. >> i had my identity stolen last christmas. it was a pain. they had a great christmas on me. >> target's ceo putting out a statement saying . . . it's unclear how much money may have been stolen. no arrests have been made. support from the nsa coming from an unusual source, the president of russia, saying the surveillance program is needed to fight terrorism. but he also once headed the th

program be limited. mike a tight rope for importantm president obama. and we're not going to know what that is, he is going to want to adopt and put before congress or enact through executive action himself. there was a sweeping set of tel. the nsa, the national security

agency, keeps that data for some five years, millions upon millions of records. the committee now says it should be kept by ply vat companies. if the government or anyone of technology were meeting with the president. they have a lot of concerns. some 20,000 national security letters are issued to these companies per year,what the pre

this, we will know next month. >> mike thank you very much. and the russian president saying he will now pardon his top political opponent. he passed an amnesty bill that will mean the release of green peace protesters, members of

pussy right, and the political opponent. as part of a deal with the ukraine, russia will invest $15 billion in the ukraine and cut gas prices. yanukovych saying the deal with russia doesn't go against any plans to trade with europe. samantha power first going to a hospital in the capitol city. the hospital has been overrun with the wounded. she is also scheduled to meet with the religious and political leaders. ousted egyptian president would be put to death if he is found guilty of charges against him. he was ak kuszed of conspiring with foreign groups to commit acts of terrorism.

the egyptian .military deposing morsi back in july. it took a jury just 90 minutes to reach a verdict in a case that shocked britain, two men found guilty of hacking a soldier to death last may. >> reporter: the two young men, both in their 20s, convicted today of the murder of that soldier, back in may on the streets of london in brood daylight. what they were not found guilty of, however, was attempted murder of a police officer. a team said while the two were in possession of a firearm, the firearm was in such disrepair that it was no threat to anybody. while they did have a firearm, they didn't intend to kill any police officers because they

wanted to be shot down on the streets of london during this incident and then viewed as martyrs. the court case now is adjourned. they will reconvene during the sentencing period. and that is expected to happen in the early part of january. the sentence is expected to be extreme given the nature of the crime and how much it was so shocking to the people of great britain. what will also happen now is an investigation into the cause of that shocking killing, the evidence has been moved over to an intelligence and security panel, an apparatus here within britain that will investigate how this happened and any lessons that can be learned so that any future attacks can be avoided. >> phil ittner in london. the president of south sudan

now meeting with african mediators trying to end the conflict there. officials say the government has now lost control of the state. the president of africa's youngest nation blaming his former vice president for the violence saying it all began with an attempted coup. syrian war planes launching an round of strikes today. activists say more than 20 people were killed and more than 160 people have died in five days of bombing in the area. they believe the assad regime is trying to crush the opposition been the peace talks. this man was 2r57 -- trapped in this his car as a building collapsed down on it. we do not know whether the rescue was successful.

there are new guidelines when it comes to treating blood pressure. that means millions of i'll have the story coming up for you. the stream is uniquely interactive television. we depend on you, >> you are one of the voices of this show. >> so join the conversation and make it your own. >> the stream. next on al jazeera america and join the conversation online @ajamstream.

on august 20th, al jazeera america introduced a new voice in journalism. >> good evening everyone, welcome to al jazeera.

>> usa today says: >> ...writes the columbia journalism review. and the daily beast says: >> quality journalists once again on the air is a beautiful thing to behold. >> al jazeera america, there's more to it. a pennsylvania minister has been defrocked for oh officiating his son's marriage to another man. the stripping him of his credentials and removing him as pastor. he has been an outspoken critic of the church's treatment of gay men and women. a georgia school district voting to allow resource officers to bring military-style assault rifles on

down. so police went into high gear and decided they needed to have the ar-15 which is a mill stair style, long-shot rifle, put into their schools, dell. >> are we seeing this a lot across the country? >> yes, and no. not in a lot of schools. clearly police departments are starting to carry the ar-15. there is a debate in boston as

to whether or not that should be put into place. there are some schools in southern california, one and the law passed on monday. here is what they had to say. >> reporter: why are you bringing them into the schools? >> this is a standard rifle we carry in our patrol cars. shortly after the sandy hook incident last year, we presented the proposal to the school board, requesting to keep rifles inside the schools. it makes no sense for an officer to leave the threat, go to their

vehicle, and then engage that threat again >> reporter: how would you de not everybody agrees with this law. >> we didn't do anything to say okay. let's look at this problem and see if there are other solutions, because the whole idea to me is to stop it before it happens, and how can you prevent it from happening by bringing more guns in school, bringing more attention to the situation, plus that's just not the solution. our kids are there -- very ray,

very complex issue. thank you very much. a detroit man who admitted shooting a young woman on his porch will stand trial for second degree murder. the judge saying there is enough evidence to try him for the killing. the woman wandered into his home after a car crash when he shot her through a screen door. he should be shielded by a self-defense law his lawyers say. on wall street no second act for yesterday's record-setting performance, the dow down just five points. one stock we are watching

closely, target. it's share are down 2% after a major debit and credit card security breach. demand for existing homes sinking last month to almost the lowest in a year. it is the third decline. retailers saying it shows a clear loss for momentum in home sales. if you are hoping for a tax refund soon, forget it. the government shutdown is to blame. the irs won't start processing refunds until january 31st. and while we are on the subject of taxes, mark zuckerberg is cashing in on some of his shares.

selling more than 41 million shares, that comes out to about $2.3 billion. facebook says it expects zuckerberg to use most of that money to satisfy tax requirements because of another stock move. there is a new study that says it now may be time for big changes in our blood pressure is treated. but not all doctors are on board. stephanie sy has our story. >> reporter: treatment of the most common chronic medical condition in the united states is seeing its first major change in 30 years. one in three americans have high blood pressure, but new guidelines say older people can tolerate higher blood pressure levels before undergoing treatment. up to a level of 150 over 90. >> now i think based on the guidelines you can feel comfortable saying if you have that patient below 150, you are at your goal.

>> reporter: the committee didn't find enough evidence that using medication to lower blood pressure at the previous threshold improved health. they cited the adverse effects associated with some medications. >> patients may get side effects from different medicines. there may be drug-drug interaction, and the complexity of taking so many different drugs, really makes it cult for many patients to adhere to the regimen. >> reporter: the panel found less medication could mean an decrease in patients with dry mouth, fainting, dizziness and falls. but some leading cardiologists are raising concerns. >> this is not the time to relax about this silent killer. we have to do everything we can to prevent strokes, heart failure and even death. >> reporter: for patients with diseases lying diabetes and

kidney disease, the old threshold still stands. stephanie sy al jazeera america. the world's most powerful greeting card in the mail. not normal this time of year, but when you see it, you will understand why some people are saying this one is super duper.

welcome back to al jazeera america. i'm del walters here are your headlines at this hour. target saying the thieves broke in and stole debit and credit card information of as many as 40 million of its customers. it began the day before thanksgiving and continued until this last sunday. the russian president said in his view the nsa surveillance is necessary. the u.s. ambassador to the united stated nations is now in

the central african republic. she said the only way to stabilize the country is to disarm the rebel groups. if you own a car, you know sometimes it seems like your insurance rates just keep climbing and climbing stacey tisdale explains why. >> reporter: boy, do we love our cars. a survey by transunion finds americans make their monthly car payments before they pay credit bills or mortgages, but with love comes responsibility. and taking responsibility for your car can cost you big time, particularly if love affair hits the skids. >> this is why car insurance rates are going up after one claim. it's a view that the consumer is now riskier than before, so the company wants to adjust the rate to make sure they are collecting enough in presumes to pay out

potential future claims. >> reporter: a study shows if you make a claim of $2,000 or more, your presumes go up by 38%. the average auto insurance premium in the united states is $791, so that 38% hike would raise it to $1,095. there are three types, bodily injury coverage is required in the district of columbia and all states except new hampshire. the second property damage coverage. you get that in case your car or somebody else's car or property gets damaged. comprehensive protection is for something like a fire or weather event.. >> the two that cost the most are property damage and bodily injury. those are raise rates by about

40% across the nation. comprehensive only effect your rate about 2% across the nation. >> reporter: insurance rates in massachusetts will raise the most if you file a claim, almost 70% on average. california comes in second. new jersey is number 3. the states with the smallest hikes, maryland at 20%, alabama, just 22%, and michigan 23%. >> insurance is regulated on the state level not the federal level. so that means insurance companies have a lot of leeway on how they can adjust rates. >> reporter: experts say the smartest thing consumers can do is do not file claims for a few hundred dollars. it's also important to shop around and ask questions. many people are surprised to find out they qualify for discounts. and take a proactive approach to

taking care of your baby. stacey tisdale, al jazeera, new york. ♪ snow, freezing rain, nonetheless all of it is coming down. salt lake city, international airport has had some delays due to this winter weather. a cargo plain came down on the taxi way and landed but slid because of the freezing rain, so we still have a temporary delay at salt lake city airport. you can see that water making its way up into the dakotas, and boy is it cold. we also have freezing rain concerns stretching across parts of the midwest here. we're looking for some of that winter weather to make the roads

very slippery. this will continue to stretch down across parts of northern missouri. we'll expect that winter weather to continue to go away, because we have warming air coming in over the weekend. that's not the case as much as you might like it to be in fargo, or other places in the west. right now we have wind chill advisories out. it feels more like it is well below zero here. feels like 16 for denver. now when we look at what is happening, we do have that large storm system generating the winter weather for the southwest and west right now. but it is going to track to the east, and hell gear up all that warm air to the south, and the clash of the two air masses right across texas and louisiana will give us some problems over

the weekend. but today we have got some snow going on. temperatures again on the cool side, we'll expect to really feel the warming in the southeast. >> rebecca thank you very much. they say christmas is best seen through the eyes of children. one group tried to make their dreams come true. they have designed some special holiday greeting cards. jonathan martin has more. >> reporter: sage hopes to be in a band, and ethan wants everyone to have clothes and shoes. these are some of the dreams of america's homeless children. no video games, no bicycles, just a chance to be normal. >> they are so innocent in what they see -- like makayla's dream was i want a room of my own. for these children it's the simple things of life. >> reporter: five-year-old my

kayla has a simple dream. >> i want my own room, so i can have a puppy and throw a party. >> her wish is featured on these pictures of hope greeting cards. pictures of hope is a project started by linda salmon, with themes of professional photographers with homeless kids. >> they all listed what they wanted when they grew up and what they hoped for, and after they wrote down what they wanted, they were each paired with a photographer. >> they just wanted to take pictures to capture, you know, what their hopes and dreams were. >> and i captured mine. i captured a lot of mine. >> she did. >> in society we don't quite think of children being homeless, but we have children here that range in age from new

borns up to 17. and there seems to be a trend that moms and children are the fastest growing population in the mission world. last christmas we -- we set a record that we're not really proud of, but we had 52 children here at the mission. >> reporter: for kids like makayla, pictures of hope is a special gift. >> to see her get so excited, and for her to put that together with the fact that she knows this isn't forever. this is just temporary, it means a lot, you know, that she -- that she can hope and dream, and she doesn't get down. she is my encouragement. >> reporter: pictures of hope cards are sold by 12 homeless shelters across the country and keep all of the money they earn.

i'm del walters. the news continues 24-7 on aljazeera.com.