>> i'm david shuster, thanks for watching everybody. >> hello, welcome to al jazeera america. i'm tony harris in new york. >> marines on the move. new developments in the south sudan crisis as more u.s. forces are called to protect american citizens in a country veering closer to civil war. >> target troubles - hackers, lawsuits and the justice department want answers. >> to the extreme - deathly floods, dangerous ice storms, tornados and rains wreaking havoc. plus, stepping out - astronaut gearing up for a christmas eve space walk, hoping to finish the repair job after unexpected glitches. we talk to a man who knows what it's like to defy gravity.

>> we begin with a development in south sudan. the u.s. is moving marines and aircraft from spain to deal with evacuations and protect many americans who are there. in the past week hundreds have been killed. tens of thousands are trying to flee the violence. the situation is more dire. the u.s. ambassador spoke to reporters after an emergency u.n. community meeting. the future of south sudan is in jeopardy and demands leadership to avoid blood shed and restore stability. the leaders face a choice. they can return and help to establish south sudan, or

destroy the hard-fought games, tearing apart the nation. >> our correspondent is on the ground with the latest. >> this man was attacked by men carrying machetes. >> soldiers started to fight during what the government calls an attempted coup, young people started to attack civilians. it looked like machetes. >> i didn't know what was happening. >> and more people are expected to get hurt. president salva kiir says the army is ready to strike. the capital controlled by rebels. >> the army's duties is to protect the citizens. the army is bound by the duty to protect the towns and bring them

under the control of the government of south sudan. the army concentrations are on the way. there are fears things could get worse. which is why this woman will not leave the compound, even if conditions are bad. >> there's no water or food. when we are hungry, we want to find food. >> tens of thousands of people are crammed into u.n. bases across the country. >> that does not ipp clut the people -- include the people looking for shelter in churches, in the bush. i had countless phone calls from our own staff members who told me leaving the city centres and going back to the villages or hiding in the savannah is where they feel the safest. this is stretched to capacity. the u.n. they are too scared to go home. >> the violence is taking its

toll on people. an escalation in fighting between soldiers and rebels will worsen the humanitarian crisis. >> in egypt a massive explosion killed 14 people and injured more than 120 others, happening in the city of mansour. civilians and high-ranging officers are among -- high-ranking officers are among the victims. >> for days syrian war planes have been dropping barrels filled with explosives on the area of aleppo. schoolchildren were among 40 killed yesterday. >> now to the last rush for health insurance. if health care is on the

wishlist, you may get a break. extra time has been gone to sign up under the affordable care act. >> today is the deadline for anyone wishing to enrol in benefit - health care benefits, to have them go in effect on january 1st. the administration is saying if you start the process today and are not able to complete registration, you get stuck in the queue, and the process is not completed until tomorrow, you will by considered enrolled and your benefits will go in effect on january 1st. it's a little confusing. perhaps the best way to think about it is voting day, when you leave work and go to the voting presint. and the poll represents - they won't make you go home, you can stay. this will be a last-minute shopping rush for people enrol, and they want to make sure those

trying to enrol to have the benefits go in effect on 1st january. the first family is here enjoying their vacation. we do understand that the president did, in fact, enrol pore health care. and signed up for a plan through the washington d.c. exchange. it's a symbolic gesture, the president showing support for the health care exchange. one thing to point out is if you don't enrol, you get benefits, enrol for a health care plan. your benefits will not go in effect on january 1st. consumers have until march 31st to pick a plan before incurring penalties. >> more backlash from the security fiasco at target. the justice department is investigating the breach. justice officials are not commenting. target says it is teaming up with the secret service in its own investigation.

the pros could determine how hackers stole data from 40 million debit and credit card customers. 11 million customers filed lawsuits. the security troubles are effecting target's bottom line. customer traffic was down. the breach public before a busy shopping weekend. target is not the only struggling retailer, they have fallen for the third week in a row during a busy shopping time. it's a disappointing season for stores who rely on sales for up to 40% of revenue. online sales are up 9% from this time last year. several neighbourhoods in philadelphia are cleaning up after a major watermain break. dozens of schools closed after water from a 48 inch cast-iron pipe poured down north-west philadelphia street.

thousands of homes and businesses spent the day without water. water pressure has been restored. they don't know what caused the is 106-year-old pipe to break. >> in a storm that brought a mix of weather, canada has been hard hit. the winter storm has left tens of thousands without power. >> new yorkers ice skating in short sleeves at the rink at rockefeller center where it was a record 71 degrees. but a very different zone in other parts of the country. five decide in kentucky flooding. >> all because of a powerful storm system producing a mix of wild, wild weather. >> louisville, powerlines were down. rains flooded this cemetery. >> holiday shoppers run for cover as sheets of ice fall from

the roof of an outlet mall in oklahoma city. no one was hurt. it looks like christmas in the midwest. in michigan, snow and ice left tens of thousands without power, forcing crews to work around the clock. >> it's an effort to bring the crews lined up. >> the storm caused hundreds of flights to be delayed. distraction has been stretching all the way north. ice and snow pounded the east of the country. in tornado you tilty companies described it as catastrophic. >> this is not the news i want to give people, but it could get worse. >> for thousands. this weather is turning into the nightmare before christmas. >> how about that. we are checking all this out and kevin corriveau has the latest.

it is moving off the coast. >> things are getting better. there's rain to deal with. the worst is over. you mentioned high temperatures. i'll show what we have seen up and down the eastern sea board. the last record was in 1990. in new york it was "71. atlantic reached 71. it will take - we are not going to see the temperatures soon, because the cold front moved out. we are seeing lake effect snow. colder air is moving in. new york 39. minnesota at 14. the cold air coming in. we'll see snow up here. the snow is not going to be too much in terms of accumulation. we have seen it with previous storms. who is going to have a white christmas. a lot of people will. this will be standing snow. any place where it has one inch

of snow on the ground, including much of the rockies. >> back to the crisis south sudan. >> former envoy to sudan joins us. he is a prove store at texas anm's bush school of government. it is good to talk to you. thanks for your time. this is a country you know well. are you as shocked as many of us by how quickly things deteriorated in south sudan. >> yes. word spread because there's a million cell phones among 8 million people. 10 years ago there was no cell phones. the unrest in juba spread quickly because the

communication systems exist that do not exist before. i'm shocked at how quickly things deteriorated. >> we are getting reports that the president is planning a military offensive to attempt to gain control. and venture in unity state which we are lead to understand are under the control of the former vice president. >> a military offensive. what are your thoughts on that. could it make a bad situation worse? >> i think all of this is terrible in terms of the common people. the oil fields have been taken by riek machar, and he announced that the oil companies should put the money interest the oil revenues in a trust fund and he will work with the sudan government to decide how it will be spent rather than the government in juba, which is a

way of shutting off 98% of revenue of the southern government. that is why the government wants to retake the two capitals of the provinces that have the oil in them. most of the revenues come from that resident. >> how long will sudan sit by and watch this unfold? there's a story that president bashar al-assad offered to send in troops, and president salva kiir said, "no, absolutely not." instead, what happened is president, according to the ugandan newspapers sent his own forces in to support salva kiir. what is happening now is that riek machar is saying, "don't deal with khartoum." the way the

north controlled the south in the middle of two civil wars is by playing different factions and tribes off in the south against each other, which may well happen once again. that would be terrible. >> i have to ask you - we have reports that more military, u.s. military assets are moved to the horn of africa, what are your thoughts, and why are there so many americans there? >> i think because the sudan es civil war went on for so long, and darfur took place. there's a large number of aid workers, not just aid agencies, but also working for u.n. agencies, for private nongovernmental organizations from the united states and britain, who are working in southern sudan, and have been there for 20 years, and there's a symbiotic relationship between sudan, north and south and the

united states. there has been a long relationship. that's part of it. >> appreciate your time. thank you so much. special envoy to sudan under president george w. bush. the two remaining members. controversial band pussy riot have been released from a prison in russia, they were gaoled after staging anti-putin protests in a moscow church. putin issued partons. the due so does not plan to stop their activism. we have that report. >> maria alyokhona walked free. >> i was going to reject the amnesty, but the prison received an order. i was brought here. now i would like to meet human rights activists.

>> the final member of the manned. na did, ezhda was released a few hours later calling for nothing less than a boycott of the winter olympics. >> european countries could revisit their opinion about the winter olympics. i call for the boycott. honesty and not to sell yourself for oil and gas that russia can provide. >> both were serving a 2-year sentence for taking part in an anti-putin demngs. it will be pussy riot's last gig. a flash performance deemed obscene interrupting morning worship. the punk pair, mother of god chased putin away. >> the court case carried around the world. three members of pussy riot were gaoled. found guilty of high school gannism. it triggered international protests with amnesty lifting

them as prisoners of protest. >> vladimir putin announced they'd be freed as part of an amnesty. >> i felt sorry for pusey riot, but the disgraceful behaviour. >> both women served their sentences at a prison authority. hundreds of miles from families. both suffered. >> maria had been subjected to physical abuse and requested solitary confinement. >> there was protests at violations of human rights. >> the big picture here is about vladimir putin and the power he wield from moss ka and beyond. emily drew romps. >> forbes magazine says he's the most powerful man. anyone watching the news saw russia's president dominate global politics.

vladimir putin took in edward snowden after he began to leak intelligence secrets. >> when president obama called for strikes on syria, vladimir putin said, "no", leading the effort against strikes and got his way again. he cultivated a strong relationship with china. he signed deals casting a shadow on u.s. influence. >> vladimir putin released his most high-profile prisoners. pussy riot, and his most important political prisoner russian oligarch mikhail khordorkovsky. >> i'm not going to engage in political activity. i said that in my alert to vladimir putin, and reiterated it assistance. >> the 'financial times' says of the releases: >> vladimir putin is anticipating international

push-back. president obama has there are sent a delegation of openly gay athletes. whatever vladimir putin's reasons for releasing prisoners, it's not seen as a sign of change. >> it's not done from a position of weakness, but strength. >> inside the country he solidified control over russia. the country is a nuclear power. he lauds over some of the world's largest oil and gas reserves. the law in russia allows his re-electi re-election, meaning vladimir putin could be in power in 2024. >> in central african republic nine were killed in interreligious violence. french and african peace of keeping groups were on the ground trying to stop fighting. tensions remain high. andrew simmons reports from the capital, bangladesh. >> the central african republic

misca says a civilian with a handgun opened fire at christian demonstrators outside the international airport. he was chadian and was lynched by an angry crowd. 40 civilians from injured. the peacekeepers intervened, opening fire into the air. add to that, another peace keep eshes, a congolese hacked to death, and the french who killed three people, and it's a dangerous mix. it's unclear whether the anti-french sentiment will increase. it was confined to rebels from seleka, not the christians. they are venting anger at the chadian contingent of the central african peace keeping forcers. so right now the situation for the peacekeepers only five days into the mission is getting more and more hazardous.

>> next on al jazeera america - high anxiety. we talk to an astronaut about the space walk outside the space station. peanuts while pregnant. how to prevent allergies.

>> astronauts on the international space station are getting ready tore the second christmas eve space walk in history. the walk was scheduled for today. the crew had to prepare a backup space suit. we'll talk about that in a moment. n.a.s.a. engineers are preparing one of the stations cooling pumps. there's a problem and it needs to be prepared. former astronaut captain ley roy chau is with me. he has been on 15 space walks in his career. thank you for your time. i heard about a problem with a

suit with one of the astronaut. i remember him saying his toes were getting cold. what was the problem? i'm assuming it all has been fixed. >> the space suit has its own cooling system and can be cold or hot. depending on whether you face the sun or the shade. generally we talk about temperature disease. the suit has to accommodate for that. the cooling system uses something where you spray water on a metal plate. it cools the water running through it. what they think happen is that the sprayer was spraying too much water, and was providing too much cooling for that particular space suit which could have been causing the astronaut to get colder than normal. >> i'm reading here that you have been on six space walks.

>> right. >> is a space walk nervous making at all for an astronaut like you. let me ask the question people at home wonder about and how do you treat it the night before? >> of course, going out on a space walk is exciting. but also you are aware that you are putting yourself at risk than if you were inside the cabin of the sprays craft. you are in your own personal spacecraft. you can move around, walk, it's eerie. you can look in the back window. your buddies are waving at you from three feet away but you are on your own. you and your partner. the night before, your question about the night before - it's fine. we are well trained for everything we are doing, we understand what needs to be done and we have thought through the emergency procedures.

actually, it's okay. you get a good night's sleep. >> part of the space walk is there's space and the walk. i have to ask you what is it like to do the walk. i saw gravity. that's the movie. >> gravity - of course, they took liberties with the technical aspects. they created the look and feel of being outside on the space walk. it's a surreal experience. you have to pinch yourself and say, "am i really doing this or am i dreaming?", the colours are bright and vivid. you have the peripheral vision, it's spectacular. >> what is the mission on this cooling system for tomorrow's space walk. how easy or difficult will it be to accomplish? >> sure, the procedure for removing the pump module is, in

itself, pretty straightforward. it's not to say the work is easy, it's not. on the first walk you saw the guys disconnect the big lines and get the thing ready to be removed. now they'll take the unit and reverse what they did, put it in place and connect up the lines. it takes a bit of time to do that. the modules are very big. but the station was designed to have these and other components replaced by astronaut doing this. these are planned activities we knew we'd have to do. i have every confidence that the crew will do fine and get everything buttoned up. >> leroy chow has been on 15 space walks in his career with n.a.s.a. that's as cool as it gets. >> coming up, a life in the balance, a 13-year-old girl brain dead after a tonsilectony - how does that happen. now the courts are stepping in. prison performance, how sheik

sheikhs -- how shakespeare is helping inmates face their demons.

welcome back everyone to al jazeera america. i'm tony harris for john siegenthaler. here is a look at the headlines. >> in south sudan 150 additional marines have been sent to evacuate americans caught up in violence. thousands of civilians fled the fighting in that nation. some people are getting extra time to sign up for health insurance under the affordable care act. if you start to register at healthcare.gov, you can complete registration tomorrow and be covered by january 1st. heavy snow and ice - what a mess. wild weather across the u.s. is creating havoc during the holiday season. 11 died as a result. the storm has caused massive

delays and outages for tens of thousands, coast to coast. >> it's a heart breaking story, 13-year-old jahi mcmath is braindead and should be taken off life support. the family is hoping out for a christmas miracle. melissa chan is following the story. what is the latest here. >> it's a very, very tragic thing, especially to have it take place this week. jahi mcmath went in for a standard surgery. it got extremely comsplit kated. after the surgery -- complicated. after the surgery she went into cardiac arrest and she was pronounced brain dead. the family disagreed. three independence doctors outside of the hospital made the same conclusion, but the family has in the been happy.

they have taken this to court of the they hold on to hope. . >> please, don't give up on my baby, she will wake up. i don't have a doubt. she will wake up. the doctors don't know. god got the final say is so. >> this is the third round of investigation on behalf of the family. from what we understand, the doctor has examined or will examine soon jahi mcmath on monday. there will be a court hearing on tuesday morning, christmas eve. >> melissa chan in san francisco. let's get more on a closer look at the legal issues with attorney areva martin who joins us now. areva martin is in los angeles. >> hi. >> who has the final word. you heard the mum say god has the final word. notwithstanding, in the legal case here, who has the

authority? >> such a difficult case. in california, under california law doctors don't have to seek court permission before they end life support services for a patient. all they have to do is determine it's in the best interests of the patient or they are within their medical judgment, it's no longer reasonable to continue the care. that's what the doctors at the hospital decided, that continuing to keep the teen on life support was fut futile. the court went in. the parties have agreed to allow a doctor from stamford to conduct an independent examination. it races interesting questions. 20 years ago families were going into court because they wanted to take family members off life support. this case races the opposite issue where the family wants to

continue life support. >> so is there dash what is the legal precedent on this question. is there a settled law on this? >> again, state by state determines what laws or what doctors have to do. in the state of california, the issue comes down is it the medical care foout il. the law does not give us definition of what futile is. they'll have to decide is the life support continuing to keep someone alive or is it already dead. >> people watching this and listening to this will be thinking how is this similar or dissimilar to the terry shibo case. the question was should she remain on life support, family members wanted it ended. that is different. now the question is we want to keep someone on life support. think of all the issues of the cost, doing so agoing and the marral and ethical ashes.

is this in the best interest of the arnt or is it a difficult decision that the family may have to face if other doctors continue to support the decision of the hospital. >> everyone has an opportunity to fight, make their case and move forward. how long does the family fight the case in your estimation. >> i think what the court did was to accept the family's plea to prolong this because it is the christmas holiday and didn't want the taint of the young girl's death to mar every christmas after this. once the stamford doctor weighs in the court will have to side with the hospital, if the doctor determines the young girl is, in fact, brain dead and the life support system is no longer helpful. it's no longer useful. >> appreciate it. thank you for your time. >> a judge's ruling allowed

same-sex marriages to continue for now. that same judge denied a state request to block same-sex weddings white the appeal is in court. hundreds of calls in utah have obtained marriage licences since the surprise ruling. friday's decision made utah the 18th state to legalize gay marriage. pardon me. >> now back to egypt where a massive bomb exploded outside police headquarters outside mansoura. 14 were killed. >> the blast struck the police headquarters in mansoura. a group of senior police officers were inside. among them the security chief. it's not clear if he was the

target. he is among those listed in the explosion. the car bomb ripped through the 5 storey building, collapsing part of it, bearing office within the rubble and caught neighbouring buildings. as rescue workers struggled to get to the victim, they called for blood donors to help with the rush of casualties. checkpoints were set up around the city to find those responsible. the prime minister described the attack as a terrorist incident. and vowed that the perpetrators will not escape justice, and the government spokesman said the muslim brotherhood shed blood, messing with egypt's security. no one admitted to being behind the bombing. a few days ago one said it

considered egyptian troops to be behind infidels. >> my apologies. nothing i can do. >> breaking a leg instead of the law. two of the newest stars in mexico city's foro shakespeare theatre got their start in an unusual stage. they were inmates at the santa martha acatitla prison. it's part of a program bringing theatre to gaols. >> confronting one of lilt rit tur -- rit literature's villians, they go to the jals. >> prince richard forced us to face our dark side. everyone has a bit of richard the third inside them, including people in the audience. >> for men like cesar david

garcia, serving a life sentence for kidnapping, playing the power hungry king richard is close to home. >> rehabilitating and facing demons is an objective of the prison theatre program started by the foro shakespeare theatre. the other is to challenge and question their own assumptions about prison life. >> people come with the idea that we are terrible and have no redeeming qualities. they are intelligent, passionate, wanting to transform and create. >> for many people entering the prison is intense. not only do they have to overcome fears, but the stereotype of the men that have to perform. >> the play begins on a bus ride to the prison. an inmate and members of the

theatre company is the warm-up act. >> he intim dates the audience, sharing his own violent experiences when he was in gaol. it's this one, the second time, seeing the show. for her the experience human ices people behind bars. >> as you watch the play you forget that their inmates. you see them as people. >> back in the theatres she, along with family members and other prisoners watch as the play unfolds. one person in the audience is missing. >> translation: i wish my victim could see me perform so he could realised that we all make mistakes, but we can change. even trash can be recycled.

>> criminals turned act visits happy more and more mexicans accept. >> a diplomat who was arrested in new york city may have a new job. india's consule general is registered the the u.n. headquarters where she has greater immunity, she pleaded not guilty to laying and paying an employeee below minimum age. 6 months after leaking 1.7 million documents. edward snowden is saying mission accomplished. edward snowden says all he wanted was for the public to have a say in how people are governed. he says that goal was reached long ago. coming up, the man that introduced the ak47. we'll look at how his invention

changed everything. >> it's that time of year in the national football league where the coach and carousel revs up. who is in and who is out.

>> the past weekend brought damage in terms of flooding, ice. the storm that causes is now making its way out higher. along the eastern ae board a lot of places are clearing up.

ice warnings in effect from maine. they have gone, most of the precipitation is leaving. cape codd along long island. >> also lake effect snow is kicking in for parts of western new york there. temperature wise we were breaking records. 71 degrees in new york city, philadelphia at 68 and washington d.c. went all the way to 72. the big change is it will bring colder air in behind it. tuesday this is what we are looking at. 39 degrees in washington. up here towards the northern plains that is where it comes in, we'll get to 14 degrees. wind chills making it feel like individual digits. snow on tuesday towards the east on wednesday. for michigan, a white christmas. everybody else we are looking at temperatures that are colder.

>> back to al jazeera america. the man who designed the world's most popular weapon decide. ak-47 investor mikhail kalashnikov skied in hospital. peter sharp reports on his life and invention. >> it's 1947, the beginning of the cold war. rolling off the production line at the soviet armourments factory a new weapon changes the face of war. >> the ak-47 taking its name from that of its invendor mikhail kalashnikov. a former tank officer, he was wounded in the war while recovering in hospital he listened to soldiers complaining about the lack of an infantry

weapon. >> the ak-47 can fire 600 rounds a minute. lethal at ranges of more than a kilometre. it's estimated that it there are more than 100 million of weapons worldwide produced in 14 companies with 82 armies equipping their troops. russia provided millions of weapons and they are in use. >> it is a remarkable weapon. it has eight moving parts. you could teach a child how to strip and shoot an ak-47 in under an hour. >> for the child armies of af ka in sierra leone, liberia and uganda, the ak-47 was a weapon of choice, turning 10-year-old said into killers. it was favoured by drug dealers and cartels.

it was an icon for violent in the 20th century. >> the russian leadership celebrated mikhail kalashnikov's 90 birthday. he was awarded hero of the federation, a high offer. mikhail kalashnikov had some regrets: >> now to a bit of basketball diplomacy featuring dennis rodman and kim jong un. unlike previous strips rodman did not see leader kim jong un. a man he called a friend for life. rodman is planning an exhibition game for kim's birthday in january, involving a dozen n.b.a. veterans and players. the heat is on. n.f.l. head coaches are feeling heat. ross is here to explain the

carousel begins now. a week today. pink slips are handed out. eight firings last year. this year the same. simply maths. you're in the play offs. if not, your season is over and jerie jones expected a clean house. tony is done for the season with a back injury. kyle was in his place. what do you say. >> i don't want to get in the medical part of it. his status is that he's going get treatment. all day. he'll continue to get it on a day by day basis. and see what the status is for wednesday and this week. >> jason garrett doing damage control. let's bring in the n.f.l. insider getting her take.

the coach is on the hot seat. how hot is the hot seat for jason garrett. >> it was extremely hot until this afternoon. adam is reporting that tony romo is shutting him down for the season. what does that mean for jason garrett. kyle orton more than likely will be a starting quart back. week 17 against the must-win philadelphia game. if they win, they are in the play-offs, if they lose, they are out. keep in mind this happened two times already, the past two years, losing to the washington red skips and did not make it to the play-offs, they are in the scenario again. if they don't make it it's because the second-string quarterback. i do believe jason garrett may get a free pass, you have to consider a better option. there's john. they are two guys everyone wants. they want power and they are not

going well for jerry jeanes. >> the lions, their talent lost five of their last six games and they were eliminated from the play-offs. tim swarts, is he done. >> you give someone five years to turn a nation around. you have players on offence, they have a great defense, one of the best in the n.f.l. on top of that this was the season that the detroit lions should have won the nf dr.. you have aaron rodgers dealing with a broken collar bone and jay cutler. if there was a time to win. it was now and with all that swarts could not get the job done. i doubt he's back next year. >> what about the dysfunction

with a capital d. issues with the owner. is there any way that mike shanahan keeps his job? >> one year, $7 million, his contract for next season. >> the problem is his son who is the offensive coordinator kyle. now, his relationship with r g3 is not good. there may be a play here, a power play with dan schneider the owner tells mike shanahan says, "i want you to stay on board, but i need you to fire your son, kyle shanahan. his offence is not working for r g3. they are in turmoil. we need a new offensive coordinator." i doubt mike shanahan does it. does he walk away from the one year, $7 million deal if dan schneider asks him to fire his

son, the offensive coordinator. it will be interesting. i hardly doubt the shanahan family will condition to coach the washington redskins. >> there was a 49ers clinch. willie mase out there, montana. >> the game is over. >> 49ers. >> beat the fal cans. >> thank you. >> good news for pregnant women who say it's okay to eat nuts. mums that ate months five times a month during pregnancy are less likely to have allergies. women were advised to avoid eating nuts. the research conducted on more than 8,000 children. snapshots - a look at the best pictures of the year.

every year hundreds of thousands of children in this country write letters to santa with christmas hopes and dreams.

there's a team of u.s. postal workers and community volunteers helping to make the wishes come true. brian rooney explains. >> this is operation santa. for the last several weeks people have come to the central post office in los angeles, and 16 other major offices and can read through the letters to santa, pick what they like, go out and buy the gifts for those that have written a letter and bring them to the post office. that is what is happening now. people are turning in the gifts to be sent. we spoke to several people that have done this. we spoke to chris blakey a couple of days ago. >> it's meaningful. it's something that will matter to people. it's nost just doing stuff for myself. >> dear santa, thank you for all you do. i'm a 63-year-old grandmother of seven kids and a 92-year-old father. my wish is to give my grandchildren all the nice gifts

and something from my father. >> feels good. feels like christmas is more than getting stuff. and it is. >> here in los angeles, they are accepting gifts together, but in new york you can pick a letter and send a gift until 4 o'clock tomorrow. >> and all this week we are looking at the most iconic and memorable photos of 2013. images from the war in afghanistan to winning wimbledon. al jazeera sat down with the ceo of getty images who told us the story behind these photos. >> that's the classic photo of exhausted soldiers after a mission. it draws your eye to the middle to begin with. when you move back a little bit, the photographer captured a moment when some are completely oblivious to the camera, some are looking at the camera, and the chap on the ground, the

horizontal positioning in which he is laying, talks to the vehicle as well as the wall behind. they look exhausted. i think we are exhausted. the country is exhausted. it's the longest war we have been in. it's on and on and on. in those moments when there's peace and quiet, where they are reflecting and gives the viewers an opportunity to be reflective. britain waited 77 years for a british person to win wimbledon. >> what is special about the photo is its so unusual. most of the photographers would be in front of him. what clive wanted to tapp tur was not a shot of wimbledon champion holding up the trophy, but the reaction of the people. when you look at the picture, tells me a lot about the world we are in. everyone has a camera, they are all lifting their camera to take

a photo of andy murray, and he those that, he is hoping them make a great photo. it was as much about the british people's reaction. he captured that perfectly. >> got to show you this before we leave, it's a holiday greeting from outer space. take a look and consider this for a second. n.a.s.a. released images of satterb and its moves and look at the pictures. the planet looks like a christmas ornament. one of the moons, a client snowball, the photos captured by the spacecraft earlier this year. terrific. that is all of our type. thanks for being with us. the headlines in a few moments.

>> welcome to al jazeera america, here is a look at the top stories, the united states is sending 150 marines to south sudan to help evacuate americans caught up in violence there. thousands of civilians fled fighting in that african nation. a family in california is fighting to keep a 13-year-old girl on life support. jahi mcmath went to brain dead after a routine tonsilectony went wrong. the hospital says the girl should be taken off life support. the family is fighting that in court. >> 11 angry people are suing target for the security breach that exposed information of up to 4