check check check >> good evening, everyone. welcome to al jazeera america. i'm john siegenthaler in new york. targeted. the holiday retail rip off - 40 million credit and debit card numbers stolen. how can it happen. our guest shows us how easy it is. >> troops on the ground. president obama orders american forces is south sudan - that as a u.s. base is stormed in that country. we have a reporter there. >> the diplomat strip stretched by police in new york. and now at the center of an international dispute. was she treated unfairly. plus peeka boo, a polar bear peers at the camera - one of

national geographic's pictures of the year, and we'll have them. >> targets tag line is expect more, pay less. what is missing is a warning like, "watch out", after criminals made out with debit and credit card informations of millions of customers. the security breach comes at the height of a shopping season and may have mean americans worried. >> targets says if you shop at its stores in the u.s. between december 27th and september 15th and used a debit, credit or store card, your personal information may have been stolen. 40 million customers might have been effected. >> it's concerning. makes me want to check my accounts.

>> the stolen information includes names, credit card numbers and expiration dates. >> i might be done shopping at target for a while. >> target hasn't revealed how it happened. but said it fixed the problem. the company's ceo says the first priority is preserving the trust of our guest and: >> paula said she last used her credit card at a target in new york. this week she noticed a charge she never made. >> i thought i will not do that any more. i don't think the banks have it secure enough, or the stores. it's not a matter of a bank robber taking a tissue paper and getting it out of the waste paper basket. >> the minniapolis based company says it has reached out to banks. the secret service is also now

involved. >> 100 million, 130 million credit card breaches happen in the past. this will not be the last one. >> it is important to make clear this does not affect online shoppers. only those that flash cards in the u.s. if that was you target would say check your statement and look for those large and small. call a credit card company and bank. the most important point - replace your card and pin number. >> let's take a closer look at how hackers will get so many credit card numbers, and if anything can be done to stop them. joining us is a former software engineer for google and microsoft and a contributing writer for a magazine. good to see you. how easy is this? >> to steal? something on this level is not trivial, but when

you think of it as sort of only needing to find a single hole in this entire security eddy fizz >> to get 40 million credit card numbers. >> that's right. they haven't revealed how the hack was done. but my guess is someone got into the corporate headquarters where the credit card information flowed to and got access to the systems, and one single security breach can give you total control. >> is it there a problem with security at companies like target and others. >> these holes are easy to find. most companies have these problems. it's a question of - it's just a question of how often successful and sophisticated attacks are made. >> how do you prevent it? >> you need good security. if you look at what snowden was able to do that should tell you what the average security is

like. >> how do you find the holes? >> well, there's no shortage of possible ones. it could be as easy as having someone working at target headquarters, clicking on the wrong link on a spam site that gives them a total exploit into a single computer >> it gives them a ride into a computer, giving them access to the system, that can be done. >> you would think there are more roadblocks. >> sometimes there are, but it's a matter of finding a single door. you can have a fort res and if you leave a single back door open you can get in. >> talk about the mind-set of hackers. these are criminals, this is a criminal syndicate. are they people sitting around trying to do something fun? >> i would say it's more than fun. this is - they are after money. credit card numbers can be used and sold before they are shut

down. >> how much money can they make? >> i found an estimate saying 5% of numbers can be used to purchase. you are talking in the order of millions, that could be used, depending how fast the mastercard, amex acts to shut down the numbers. >> should people be looking at the statements now? >> if you stopped in target, a physical store, as far as anyone knows, it did not affect online, but if you shopped at a physical target store you should keep a close eye on your statement and as an added measure, you can contact one of three credit b bureaus and tell them to but a watch on it. >> it's talked about healthcare.gov, but other places need to put some money into

this. >> doing good fool-proof security is difficult to do. one mistake is all you need. >> thank you, great to talk to you. >> now to a developing story, one that we are watching closely and the white house. it's unfolding in south sudan, a country torn apart by ethnic violence. hundreds have been killed. the united nations says three peacekeepers were killed when opposition fighters stormed a u.n. base. president obama is stepping in, ordering 45 u.s. military personnel to support the security of u.s. citizens and the american embassy. hundreds of americans are being airlifted out. in a letter the president informed congressional leaders of his decision to send troops to the country. we have this report from south sudan. >> officials checking passports. those that want to leave south sudan must be on the evacuation list.

foreigners and locals are being flown out of the country. they are told it's for security. >> they gave us permission to travel home and are advising people to go back. >> u.s. soldiers are in juba making sure it's safe for planes to take off and land. they are monitoring the situation, together with u.n. troops. many people can't leave. they find safety in u.n. compounds. during the day they go out to find food but return before sunset. >> this is the area where most of the fighting took place. families are coming into the compound for safety. they don't feel safe sleeping at home at night. >> human rights watch says civilians are targeted along ethnic lines. the man blamed for the violence is riek machar, from the nuer

tribe. >> if you go outside, they can kill you. >> the violence is said to be because of a coup. >> juba is quiet enough. government troops have lost control. u.n. officials say the base has been attacked. government officials can send in reinforcements. >> there's government offices, they had to vacate the fight. and relocated. so they are still fighting on and on. of course, the government has been displaced from the offices. that's why we say they have lost control. we wouldn't say it's completely captured. >> back in the capital the day is ending. people look for cover ahead of

what they fear is a night of violence ahead. political tensions and rivalries plant the country into another civil war. >> i want to bring in from washington a policy analyst on sudan and south sudan for enough, an organisation that nights against genocide and crimes against humanity. >> let's talk about the u.s. troops that are sent in there. other troops there has been a significant increase in violence and fighting has now spread to five of the country's 10 states. these concerns are completely warranted. it's incredibly encouraging to

hear that president obama dispatched 45 troops to ensure that essential personnel, including the ambassador canthe is civfact, there's 2.5 years old after gaining independence. civil war is not inevitable. the south sudanese people had a vision for a pluralistic society. it's not two tribes. they have dozens of groups who have found a way to live together. we really strongly believe that they should and will find a way to do so again. the international community needs to stand behind them as they find a way to come together

and reconcile differences. neighbouring countries sent their foreign ministers from ethiopia and kenya to begin that mediation and negotiation. through those discusend. >> this is a complex problem here, and we are talking about an ethnic divide that has created this. tick, the root of the violent is at a struggling between the president and his former vice president, salva kiir and riek machar. salva kiir is of the dinka tribe and riek machar is of the nuer

tribe, there has been a political struggle over the ruling party. when violence broke out there has been a mobilisation of troops. in some cases violence moved along ethnic lines. we hear about security services going door to president needs t make it clear that that is unacceptable. >> given what happened a peace

civil war. >> we'll continue to follow the story. good to have you on the program. >> now to london, and that theatre collapse. hundreds were inside when a part of the ceiling gave way. the ceiling was one of chaos, several seriously. it happened at the apollo. theatre goers say they heard creeking noises before the collapse. some thought it was part of the show. the cause of the collapse is unknown. in california two separate tour bus crasheses leave one dead,

dozens injured. a police spokesman said it was raining hard at the time that a bus was overturned. it's not clear if that caused a clash. minutes later a second tour bus overturned, 50 miles south. one person was killed, more than 20 others injured. the driver lost control, causing the bus to flip on to its side. >> next, presidential pardons. fleeing drug offenders and raising questions about prison sentences for similar convictions. sanctuary for edward snowden. will he end up in brazil. i ask the journalist who shared edward snowden's secrets with the world.

>> it is a tradition this time of year for presidents to pardon prisoners or grant clemency.

president obama did that, reducing long sentences for eight people convicted for crack cocaine charges which have more severe punishments than powder co-cane. some believe race is a reason. >> until 2010 a person convicted of possessing crack co-cane faced a longer sentence than someone convicted of possessing the same amount of powder co-cane. civil liberties called the focus on crack discriminatory since most convicted were poor. in 2010 congress passed the pair sentencing act, removing some of the disparities, but it only applied to new convictions, people who have been convicted under the old rule were in prison. a concern addressed last summer.

>> too many americans go to too many prisons for too long and no truly good law enforcement reason. >> among them clarence, sentenced to line at the age of 23. he was one of eight people whose sentence was commuted. in a statement the white house pointed out that each served more than 15 years in prison: >> in addition to the eight computation, president obama pardoned 13 people who completed their sentences on a variety of charges, including embezzlement

and robbery. >> according to human rights watch african-americans are 10 times more likely than whites to be send to prison. more than 1 million african americans are in prison or gaols. joining us to talk about this is a professor of law at sara cues. why do you think there's a disparity, especially in drug cases, when it comes to whites and blacks? >> there's a perception that blags are criminals. so the racial disparity in there is looking at it as inherent to black people so each of these people creating crimes individually. >> are you saying the judges do that? >> and public opinion. if we look at why are there

differences racially in sentencing, we can say that people think that crack is more addictive or black yuths are likely to sell it. the biggest problem is the fear that there'll be an attack on the large ecommunity. the better that we can deal with this, politicians come after the kids and say we'll be tough on crimes. it's a way for them to say you're going a good job. blacks and whites - the studies show used drugs at the same right. are they not caught committing the crimes. do they have better lawyers. >> we have to rethink what is the face of crack america. is it a person that we see on tv all the time smoking in a ghetto

place. is it the mayor of toronto. i think that is the way we need to think of it. the majority of crack co-cane people are white people. 51% of those people are white. the others are black and brown. >> so many people are in prison today. >> it's billions of dollars. it was over 68 billion spent on imprisonment when we could have used the money for other programs like rehabilitation, prevention. instead it was seen if we imprison all of these people, send them to prison, we are taking them out of society. that's a way to deal with the problem. it's creating more problems because the families that the people are taken away from, they are being broken down, kids are not having fathers. >> these are additional costs. >> absolutely.

we don't send them to prison and the families break down and there's additional costs. >> one in 28 kids has a father or mother in prison. all of this can deal with how the kids are brought up. the kids, who have parents in prison are likely to be in prison themselves. it becomes a generational problem. how can we deal with this. there are other ways of dealing with the drug problem. no one is saying we want to let these people out of prison. all they are saying is we want to have equality in how people are sentenced according to what kind of drug fingerprints they have. crack co-cane was 100 times more likely to be prosecuted. it was seen as, well, crack co-cane is dangerous. >> because it is addictive is what we heard, and that was more dangerous. >> that's the belief.

all crack is is powder co-cane with water and baking soda and it's cooked. it's not that it's less dangerous, but it's the same, in a different form. >> great to see you, thanks very much. >> there's a debate over where the leaker over the spy revelations may go next. edward snowden has been granted political asylum in russia until august. he's been on the run. glenn greenwald's partner is trying to help edward snowden find a safe haven. in my second part of my interview with glenn greenwald and his partner i found out more about their efforts. >> i think edward snowden is a hero. what he's been doing, is he went to china, to give the documents.

it's amazing the debate that he created for the world. he helped my country to understand everything that happens here, how the u.s. has spoilt the president and the population. i wanted to help him get out in a place. i think it's a good democracy, and he can be - have his human rights defend. >> you want edward snowden to come to brazil. is it a real possibility? >> i want edward snowden to be in any country with the willingness and ability to protect its human rights and ensure that he is not persecuted by the united states for decades in prison for going the acts of the united states. whether it's brazil or russia or any other countries. that would be a good outcome.

there's a possibility that brazil, for the reasons said. a lot of the reporting that came from the documents, that he showed very large-scale violations of brazilian citizens and this country has been appreciative of that reporting, and understands how much of a sacrifice that edward snowden made to allow them to be aware of their violations. it's ultimately up to the german people, the russians, as far as how they protected the government. the public reaction is encouraging. although no country wants to stand up to the united states, it's a possibility. >> coming up - outrage in india. a nationwide backlash over the strip search of an indian

diplomat in the u.s. plus the year in pictures. the spell-binding images from national geographic.

>> welcome back to al jazeera america. i'm john siegenthaler in new york. president obama commuted prison terms for eight people. some sentenced to life in prison for crack co-cane offenses. until recently it was more severe than other forms of the drug. south suedan on the brink. three united nations peacekeepers have been killed on an attack on a u.n. base. rebels have taken control of a major city. panic in london. in a theatre tonight part of a ceiling collapsed on to a crowd. it happened at a century old apollo theatre.

76 people were hurt. seven sent to the hospital with serious injuries. >> an update on a story we have been follow, the arrest of a high-level diplomat in new york. she was strip searched by the police and accused of paying her nanny $3 per hour. her treatment sparked protests in india and strained relations between the two country. now the justice department says it will not drop the case against her. >> protesters in the indian city vent their anger at the united states. the arrest and detention of an indian diplomat by american authorities in new york city on december 12th sparked a nation-wide backlash against an indian ally. new delhi is unhappy about how devyani khobragade, indian consule general was treated. >> we have seen the statement

issued by the americans on december 18th. we need to keep in mind that there is only one victim in that case. that is devyani khobragade, a serving diplomat on mission in the united states. >> the story has captured the indian media's attention. news outlets pitch the arrest and detention, including strip searches as humiliation of the nation. new delhi is determined to set an international example. >> translation: it is not a matter of india alone. all developed nations should learn a lesson and raise their voice when such incidents take place. >> protesters shut anti-american slowingans in the north indian state of rojas tan. their angry chants feed a chorus

of discontent. some say the way to diffuse the stalemate is simple. >> apology is not good enough. regret is not good enough. the case has to be withdrawn. >> india and the united states shared a strong relationship. this now represents one of the biggest diplomat break downs between the two nations in recent years. with both sides standing firm, it's hard to see a quick end to this crisis. >> we are learning new details about why the general in charge of the air force nuclear missiles was fired in october. the air force released its report today and said major general michael cary engaged in heavy drinking and other inappropriate behaviour whilst on a training trip to rush ape

russia and was rude to his host. and that he associated with foreign women who were suspect. cary did not comment. >> in a tuck of war between east and west ukraine's president made his choice, announcing plans to join on economic union led by russia, and criticised western nations for supporting the anti-government protest. protesters are furious at the president's decision to snub the e.u. in favour of a bailout. a u.n. official is looking at the violence in the central african republic. u.s. ambassador to the united nations, samantha powell, is there and met with the government. it came as announcements of $15 million in aid. andrew simmons reports on a new effort to bring peace >> a military handover that is meant to make a difference to

the traumatised people of the central african republic. the car peacekeepers are replaced by a larger force. another military acronym for the largest force of its kind. it will try to calm the car, which is on the brink of killing and the threat of genocide is present. it's twice the size of its existing force and will double the number in the coming weeks to 6,000. with the military build up more political pressure is bearing down on the interim president, michel djotobia, to calm the anger and threaten full justice for anyone involved in the atrocities. >> we have to discuss the transition, to really insist on what needs to be done to prevent further atrocity crimes. in other words, it is critical that a message comes from

himself to make sure that nobody will be immune from any form of persecution. >> here in bossongoa, a city like the capital, the risk of large-scale killing has not diminished. bolder military acts are needed as attacks on villages continue. >> the challenge for the replacement to fomac are profound. it's not about peacekeeping, but to enforce calm. the new force needs to be fast, efficient and well equipped. >> the outgoing peacekeeping force commander believes the bolls sterd force will work. >> we intervene in specific locations. miss ka will be able to go anywhere and diminish the risk. >> action is needed son if the forwards of minority muslim

people do not lead to retaliation. the french army wants to disarm both sides. it's too tense and more firepower is needed first. >> in the coming days it's expected there'll be political pressure on the interim government to put out positive message on reconciliation, and robust action to disarm the killers. >> the white house is warning senators to expect a veto of legislation to toughen sanctions against iran. the economic penalties have been eased as part of an interim deal to curb the nuclear program. 13 democrats, 13 republicans are joined to back a new bill. white house press secretary jay carney says it will undermine diplomatic efforts.

>> romps a -- reports a high ranking official has defected, reports are that it's the top aide to kim jong un's uncle. it adds to concerns that the country is in turmoil. jim walsh is an international security expert, one of the few outsiders who travelled to north korea to meet with officials. welcome. >> what is the significance of this. kim jong un's uncle was executed. uy in the id appears to have country. he was not the only number two guy, he was a family relation. north korea is built on family ties. that's the organising principle of the country.

not only is this guy executed, he is publicly executed, and the korean government comes out and says there are plots against us, they were going to use economic difficulties to get the military to overthrow the young kim. that is an administration that there are factions and divisions never made before. it's an admission that things are not great in the people's paradise, that there are economic problems that someone might take advantage left in s

transition with the young guy, the 30 something has gone well. all political transitions are difficult. you have the potential of a rivalry between a young guy and the uncle. north korea is trying to shift one sector of the military to the party. if you take power away interest someone, they'll not be happy. i read this as disturbing. if they have internal problems, they will not care what china thinks, or the u.s., they'll focus on their own i think we are in for a rough ride over the next year or so. >> north korea's propaganda machine,

something of an act of weakness, trying to hold on to jang song- uncle, was china's guide. he had the close relationship. he advo cade chinese reforms and

he's been shot by a firing squad. when you undergo internal percentages, when factions are fighting one another. one of the things you do is get paranoid who can control north korea - no one right now. >> thank you jim walsh for our insight. >> basketball diplomacy, why dennis rodman is back in north korea. plus, buckingham briefs the hacking scandal - reaching the british royal family.

>> plenty of problems in salt lake city. a car accident. one person was not affected - on a unicycle going through the snow. they are dealing with airport delays. you can see the snow. it's dissipating. the traffic is coming into the region. it's good news. the bad news is over the next couple of days there's major problems developing. you can see here on friday - this is the culprit. temperatures to the north are going to be cold. to the south they'll be warm. take a look at the difference with memphis at 70 degrees, and

chicago at 74. when you have a gradient that close together, that's when you'll get real problems. on saturday it'll be a severe weather day. we are talking thunder storms, hail and tornados in this area. you can see the temperatures are supporting active weather. look at the weather. here in new york 55 degrees, still cold. temperatures of 25 in billings.

>> new developments on the phone hacking trial in london. prosecutors accused former journalists of the "news of the world" tab lloyd of intercepting

voice mails from members of the royal family, dating back to 2006 when pril yam was -- prince william was dating kate middleton. >> ross shimabuku is here with sport. >> dennis rodman is in north korea to train basketball players for an upcoming player. he wants everyone to know he's not a joke. this is the same guy who dressed up in a wedding gown and will rite a book with his bff, kim jong un. the 52-year-old rodman, who never shies away from the spotlight arrived in north korea with his tv crew to document his 4-day drip. the trip is sponsored by patty power. it's not clear if rodman will meet with kim jong un, but he

will be back in north korea in january for the exhibition game to celebrate kim jong un's birthday. rodman defended the dictator, and called kim jong un a friend for life. this friend that executed his uncle. he continues to contain dennis bay. can rodman bridge the gap? >> i come over to see my friend. people give me a hard time by me saying he's my friend. i'm proud to say he's my friend. he has not done anything to put a dampener or say anything about my country or this and that. if i can meet that person to open doors for america and people around the world, this is going to be that one thing. we have 12 american guys going

back and saying nice, cool things about this country. i have done my job. >> you mentioned that he'll train a group of north koreans, what does he have in mind? >> he has trained them to play in an exhibition against 12 former n.b.a. players yet to be named. he is trying to get carl malone and scotty tipin. whether it's a publicity stunt. he'll try to make money. is he trying to play a role in international relations. >> kim jong un doesn't listen, it appears, listen to any u.s. official, but listens to dennis rodman. if it starts a line of communication between north korea and the united states that is a good start. dennis rodman loves the spotlight and is getting paid by patty powers, an online belting

company. >> this just in, the senate approved a sweeping defense bill. it passed a bill addressing sexuality all the in the military. it would block commanders from overturning court-martial decisions. the bill goes to president obama for his sit. >> next up going green with mushrooms. they could become the steyro foam of the future. say cheese, a look at some of the world's best photographs.

clsz >> the united states makes nearly 2 billion pounds of poly-steyr een package, new york city council planned to ban plastic foam food containers. the real solution could be growing under our feet. >> every cubic inch of the soil

is teaming with millions of inches of my psyllium. >> a walk through the foods of green island is a pleasure. when you are with gavin mcintyre and evan bare, you are sure to stumble on something scientifically complex and it will involve a mushroom. >> we use waste like korn husks and mushrooms: >> do you grow your own mushrooms? >> we keep the miss illium in a growth statement where it makes more of the route structure. the concept was inspired when i saw miss illium growing through woodchips, holding them together. >> it takes seven days for a product to be grown from beginning to completion.

>> what is the problem with steyro foam. >> it's not like plastic is bad. they are fundamentally uncompatable. >> the possibilities go beyond protective packaging. they are now developing home insulation. >> welcome to the tiny house. >> what is the tiny house? >> the walls are built with mushroom insulation. >> what was impressive about the mushroom building materials was the resistance to fire. >> it will burn for a while. it's not the safest thing to have in your house. we can keep an open flame on this for a few minutes before it becomes a danger. >> do you feel you guys are having an impact on humanity. >> we see this as looking forward centuries, not just days. >> which companies will use the packaging during the holiday season?

>> dell computers is using it already to package their computers. but what i think we'll see in the years to come is that this kind of packaging will transform the holiday season. think about the packaging that we are drowning in, all of which takes a tremendous amount of time, thousands of years to biodegrade. i think this will be the packaging material of the future. >> you hear about the steyro foam or how many decades it will take to break down. >> it depends. but typically in a matter of months. you did a lot of work on the factory floor. how complicated is the process? >> when you see it produced you have a thought, "of course it makes perfect sense to make plastic material out of

agricultural waste." but no one had thought of it before. it's the perfect marriage of some high tech and really innovative science going on, and a commonsense approach to not just packaging but all sorts of products. >> did you talk to people about whether what is they said the packaging will smell or if it's gross to have material. >> the factory smells like mushroom soup, but the materials made - there's no odour to the materials once they've been produced. >> what other items might we see the product used for? >> they have started to manufacture mushroom surfboards. which have not made from the hazardous pettero chemical materials that can contaminate the ocean, and they are taking orders for those, and they are using the material,

experimenting with it for home insulation, and nigs to -- in addition to that they are using it similarly for balsa wood. the thought is to replace all sorts of the synthetic wood. >> it's a fun story. >> be sure to tune in to "techknow" on al jazeera america. pretty soon folding bills into your wol et will not be easy. the bank of england will use plastic money. the notes will be made out the pol imer. the new bills are cleaner and durable. smoking goes beyond the smoke. once signed by the mayor, the

ban will take four months, meaning smokers cannot puff on electronic cigarettes in indoor or other places. no smoke comes out of egrets, just vapour, four states have already included smoking bans to include e-cigarettes. >> to the national geographic contest for the best pictures this year. competition was fierce. out of all one stood out. >> here it is, national geographic's grand prize winner. we see a solar bear peering up from beneath the sea ice as the midnight sun sets over canada bay. the bear watched him under the surface before taking a deep breath and swimming away. it's a spectacular shot, one of 7,000 submitted from 150 countries, including this from japan. crows living in tokyo, using

clothe happeningars to make nests, they do it because there are few trees. this from hungary, the photographer capturing the egrets in the tidal area of the danube. and this is titled a man feeding swans in the snow. from malaysia another geographic winner. adam tan training his down on a place in transition. here a lion es lies in wait in the callet harry desert. the photographer following the pride before an ant lop strolled by. the photographer saying the shot meant more to him than the sequence that came after it. finally pictures of a poor family in belgium. a family bundled up against the cold with a grip on a bird. >> amazing photographs.

>> what you are about to see is the world's smallest movie called a boy and his adam. produced by researchers at ibm. the character you see is just a series of carbon monoxide atoms. to see the movie at all you have to mag niify it 100 million times. nanotechnology could allow you to store every movie ever made on a device the size of a fingernail. that's the broadcast tonight. thanks for watching. we be back tomorrow night. an update on the top stories coming up in just a moment.

>> welcome to al jazeera america. i'm john siegenthaler in new york. here are the top stories. expect more, pay less. watch out target says its stores across the country have been hacked. information from 40 debit and credit card accounts have been stolen. secret service is investigating the security breach. >> part of a ceiling collapsed in a theatre in london, raining wood and plastic on a crowd at apollo theatre. seven were injured seriously. there were creeking noises before the collapse, some thought it was part of the show. the senate approved a