>> escalating violence in south sudan is raiding fears of an all-out ethnic civil war. american forces evacuate hundreds of u.s. citizens. it's deadline day to sign up for health plans under the obamacare. it's unclear if everyone who wants to buy a plan will be able to do so. >> holiday travellers having a hard time getting home for the holidays. a wild weekend storm impacting 35 states, with everything from snow and ice to tornadoes and flooding. >> a new beer with a patriotic flavour.

it's brewed in bottles by american veterans. [ ♪ music ] >> hello, welcome to al jazeera ameri america, i'm thomas drayton, good to have you with us. >> violence in the world's youngest country is spiralling out of control. an oil-rich state called unity is no longer under the control of the government. americans have been safely evacuated from the country. loyalties have been split, between supporters of president salva kiir, and former vice president riek machar. the violence escalated when the president dissolved his cabinet in july. he created a one-party state making it impossible for anyone else to be elected president.

south sudan is a country in crisis. >> as the violence in north and central south sudan escalates thousands are trying to scope the fighting. government forces have lost control. they are battling to recapture bor. >> there are a lot of people who are now in the u.n. compound in bor town. the whole town is vacated completely. it is only these rebel soldiers who move about in the town. all the bodies have not been collected. we don't know how far, what is the number of the dead. the town is under the control of the rebels. >> the rebels are loyal to former vice president riek machar. he's accused by president riek machar of plotting a coup. he denies this, but speaking to al jazeera's david foster over

the phone, he says he's ready to run the country. >> >> so the answer is yes, you would like to be the next president? >> no one knows where riek machar is and government officials seem to be losing patience. since he's continuing with his atrocities against the people, the government of south sudan will not tolerate that. we will not allow him to continue to kill the people. we keep on waiting for him in the meanwhile to accept peace. i strongly believe that after this there'll be no way, but

we'll have to move to protect the lives of the citizens. >> there are diplomatic efforts to get the opposing sides to talk. >> government officials say losing key towns to the rebels is a temporary set back. they also say they want their sources loyal to riek machar take the capital. >> the u.n. and u.s. envoy is in the capital. riek machar made it clear he wants the president removed, making any chance of a dialogue difficult. >> about 62,000 people who have been displaced by the fighting are seeking refuge at u.n.'s peacekeeping bases in south sudan. this is happening as president obama is vacationing in hawaii. the white house says president obama is keeping a close eye on developments in south sudan, including rescue missions involving u.s. citizens. >> the united states in coordination with the united nations has air lifted according

to the u.s. state department is number of citizens who presented themselves to the u.n. camp. they were airlifted on civilian helicopters to juba. the specifics of this evacuation have not been made available by the state department, this being that, of course, on saturday there was an effort to airlift that was abandoned when four u.s. service members were fired upon. they are recovering from their insuries, but the safety and security of the efforts is utmost important. more than 380 government officials and private citizens have been taken from the region to nairobi. another 300 from partner nations have been evacuated. we know president obama is continuing to be updated by government officials on the situation. he is vacationing with his family, but continues to stay

abreast of the situation. the white house is issuing a statement on saturday, in fact, saying that there is great concern about the vol tilty in the region, saying that any effort to seize power will result in an end to long-standing support from the u.s. and international community. secretary of state john kerry appointed a special envoy to the region, donald booth. he said it's the u.s. position that sudan, and south sudan, not slide back into violence. it's the u.s. belief that it will be detrimental to both sides and the u.s. continues to encourage both sides to resolve their differences through political means. >> monday marks a deadline for the affordable care act, it's the last day for millions of americans to sign up for health insurance through the federal government. our correspondent has more on the last-minute rush. >> if you haven't already, you

may want to pencil in a couple of hours to sign up for health care. millions of americans are uninsured in both states. monday december 23rd is the deadline if you are looking for coverage starting january 1st. it's important for people in high-risk pools to get insurance, including close with pre-existing conditions. people that lost insurance, and people in states where medicade it scaling back. but the january 1st deadline varies in states where people operate their own health exchanges. open enrolment in 2014 starts january 1st. >> i had a call saying it was approved. i came in today and finished the application. i'm covered now. >> website difficulties and other changes are leading to confusion for others. >> he's constantly changing the rules, causing confruition for

consumers and creating uncertainty for health plans. >> people kout coverage could face a tax penalty if they don't have insurance in place. $95 for most people in 2014, but it rises rapidly. by 2016, people without insurance face penalties of $700. to avoid the penalty you need an insurance plan in place by february 15th. that could be a plan through your employer, or providing elegibility for a government plan like medicarar medicade. >> increase staff at call in centres are across the country to help people navigate the system. 12,000 people at 17 sites. >> if there are glitches on monday, officials have a backup in place. >> a gaoled member of the

controversial russian band pussy riot has been released. she was pardoned on monday under an amnesty bill. an oil tycoon and former critic, mikhail khordorkovsky was pardoned. he spoke out on sunday for the first time since he was imprisoneded. >> if the kremlin hoped that the world would forget about mikhail khordorkovsky after his release, they were wrong. at a museum dedicated to the cold war past, he arrived under the glare of flash bulbs. it was chaotic, but quick to thank those that secured his release. he admitted it came as a surprise >> translation: i did not have a choice at the time i was released. a chief at the prison camp woke

me at 2 o'clock in the morning. during my trip i found it would end in berlin. >> he promised to fight for those behind. >> there are other political prisoners, not only those in relation to the yukos case. you should not see me as a symbol that there are no more political prisoners this russia, but a symbol of society that could lead to the release of those that people wouldn't think could be released. >> mikhail khordorkovsky denied the charges against him. from behind bars mikhail khordorkovsky wants russia's rich man was a thorn in the side of the establishment, a critic of vladimir putin. authoreded as a rival, he outlined his plans for the future. >> i am not going to engage in political activity.

i said that in my alert to vladimir putin, and reiterated it several times since. i'll engage in public work. the struggle for power is not for me now. >> mikhail khordorkovsky may have ruled out a role in front-line politics, but it is unlikely that he'll sit on the sidelines and stay silent on what is happening in russia. what he does will be followed by the kremlin. >> mikhail khordorkovsky has a visa to stay in germany for a year. a return to russia is not imminent. he may face more charges. >> as chairman of russia's largest oil company, mikhail khordorkovsky once amassed a fortune worth $15 billion. he was gaoled in 2003 on allegations of fraud and tax evasion. >> the first official weekend of winter brought a frightening scene in oklahoma city. look at sheets of ice falling an

holiday shoppers. some crashing to the ground were five seat long. shoppers took cover under australianings. there were no reports of injury. in arkansas river two late-season tornados blew through the state. the storms injured a few people. one of the storms ripped through a mobile phone park with winds up to 130 miles per hour. >> we have a storm moving offshore, and had a lot of rain out of this. flash flooding and heat on the east coast. and a lot of ice and a new round of snow coming down in parts of the mountains and the south-west. the snow accumulation will be lighter around the great it lakes from this exiting storm. exiting is such a good word when we talk about this storm.

it brought tornados flooding, heat and ice. every component you can get, this storm brought. we are getting icy conditions into maine. they were watching for icy roadways, and watch for the accumulations, you may not see them before you ride in your car or slip on the ice. what we have coming in is cold, dry air behind it. it will be easy to keep things icy and into the north-east. >> we have the wind chill warnings, in fact, around the canadian boarder. it feels like it's 20 degrees below zero. and it's not colder than that. travelling for the holidays will be on the poor side when we talk about conditions being icy along the canadian border. further south we have good travel weather. things will clear out and it is getting chilly. fair conditions for the midwest

and a system coming through the pacific north west coast. you can expect the passes to be snowy at times. we'll continue with the flood warnings all through the south-east. we have rain pushing through and some of it is heavy at times, some of them for virginia. rain total are five, 6 inches in places. the temperatures as we get going will be on the mild side for the east coast. expect them to start to gradually cool off. highs on monday will be on the comfortable side close to normal and most areas will dry out. >> fall-out from the hack attack on target. steps one major bank is taking to protect customers, and the back lesh from french soldiers. what sparked violence against

crews to stop the bloodshed there.

>> welcome back. chase bank is taking safety measures after the massive security breach in target stores. it opened a third of its branches to help customers that were affected. the bank is limiting how much credit card customers can spend in the final days before christmas. not everyone is happy about that. >> felix walked into this chase branch and discovered she was a casualty i of the target credit card breach. she could only withdraw $100, short of what she needed for the extended family's christmas list. >> i have 12 girls to shop for, 13 brothers and have to get the swaet shirts and i don't know what i'm going to do.

that's more than chase can charge on her credit card. she's not alone. she's one of a few that used her cards. her branch was closed. one-third of chase branches were open on sunday to help customers print cards. customers who can't make it into the bank, getting a new card could take two weeks. >> i learnt my card needed to be changed whilst christmas shopping. chase released this statement to its customers: >> on-sunday i was able to get a new card at the bank in less than 5 minutes. for shoppers like felix who

couldn't use her card. >> i feel like i can't use my card. i have to abandon it and use cash. it's not convenient for this time of year. >> convenient not just for shoppers, but including target who is trying to figure out how 40 million of its credit cards were hacked. >> three class action lawsuits had been filed in the wake of a breach. the plaintiffs are seeking more than 5 million in damages. charges have been filed in a deadly factory fire in bangladesh killing 1,200 people. many exits were blockedment openers of a factory were among 13 facing charges. he could be sentenced to live in prison. >> branning has the second-largest industry. >> a shooting in the central african republic is parking

backlash against soldiers trying to keep the piece. france is deployed troops to try to stablilize the country. the french minister described the country as on the verge of suicide. it is a poor region where the french soldiers are targeted. >> this is the scene after a french army control confronted former seleka rebels. they shot three men dead. the french came under fire after starting disarmament in an area where there'd been sectarian killing. they decided to withdraw and and then returned. later seleka fighters started proceeding hate messages to anyone of french nationality. peacekeepers backed up the french. >> this is a congolese contingent from the international peacekeeping

force. "we have seen a situation where roadblocks have been set up. we stopped at one. we had to. we were threatened with a hand grenade. the threat came from these men, trying to stop anyone they thought was french, from passing through. >> later members summoned the media. the alliance of rebels was supposed to have been disbanded after it overthrew the government in march. the interim government announced the three dead were from the presidential guard and all the men here accused the french army of being soft on the christian militia, the anti-balaka but hard on seleka. >> we haven't heard of the french killing balaka. the seleka are back in their barracks, only travelling with the right barriers. >> as the bodies were about to

be driven away a relative of the dead gave this message >> translation: i'm asking all you dead to go home. you have done nothing since independence. now you are mann ip ute lating us, sometimes you are with us, sometimes against us. >> this caused fear for the impoverished people. the interim government appears to be doing nothing to cool down the anti-french sentiment. >> according to the united nations about 20% of the population in the central african republic has fled their homes. 56 people, including children are dead after an army air strike in syria. human rights groups say military helicopters drop barrel bombs in aleppo. the government has been bombing rebel held areas. government officials say they

are targetting terrorist insurgents in aleppo. >> a bomb exploded on a bus in israel moments after it was evacuated. the driver told everyone to get off the bus. no one was hurt. israeli police are blaming palestine groups. spacewalk delayed while repairs are made on the international space station. >> creating jobs for american veterans. how an enpre prenure is doing it one beer at a time.

>> welcome back. there are problems out in space. monday's scheduled spacewalk for repairs on the international space station has been postponed. a space walk over the weekend to remove a bad pump was successful but one of the astronaut reported a problem with a space

suit. back in july an italian astronaut nearly drowned when his helmet filled with water. n.a.s.a. are battling with suits almost 35 years old. the next spacewalk will be on new year's eve. >> a tower in michigan was brought down with explosives. an investment town brought it for $1. they plan on turning the site into a family friendly science park. >> veterans are likely to be three times more likely to be unemployed. we are told about a company that only hires veterans to make its patriotic view. >> the makers say it's america's most important beer. why? the new brew that customers are knocking back is

100% patriotic. in the summer of 2012 veterans advocate paul jenkins wondered why veterans faced high unemployment rates while americans held them in high regard. >> why beer? >> i couldn't thing of anything else. it was july. a lot of ads related to alcohol. if i could come up with something better i would have done it. >> jenkins went on a mission as focused as anything in the navy. his plan to launch the veterans company using veterans as employees - from the breuer to the logo designer and promoters. being a jack-of-all-trades served him well in the military, but not the job markets. a lot of companies are afraid to commit if they don't fit the job

description, the roles and responsibilities that the company is looking for. >> mark is an employee. they figured they'd sell 100 cases of beer in the fires year. they sold 10,000 in the first month. paul is more excited by hiring more veterans. >> people are despairing, i want people to know we are coming. that drives it. if they hold on and know we are coming, it's the military philosophy. back up is coming. back up is on its way, they have to know we are growing as quickly as we can. >> you started the company. you have 10 years to move occupy are you're out period. that includes the founder. i recognise one of the most important parts of my job is fining the person to take my place. >> first thing is first. the vet wran beer company plans to expand by more than a dozen

states by the end of the kneer. the products we have are on the market. what is appealing to the customers is the taste, but what he called slaktovision. >> when he sits on the couch, what do you reach for. means nothing - you'll try for something that matters. >> selling the veteran and the blond bomber matters more. >> the company hopes to hire 3500 veterans in the first 5 gears and donate 10% of profits to veterans charities. that will do it for this edition of the news. news on the top of every hour. you can log on to aljazeera.com for the latest headlines. thanks for watching. see you 4am eastern on aljazeera.com.

>> hello, i'm richard gizbert and you're at the ifn hadding post, divided loyalties no. ukraine, and people covering the media there. not so fast. ratings go through if roof. north koreans formal ly scrub kim jong-un's uncle off the map.