before it happens? ♪ political assassination, a huge explosion rocks beirut killing a former finance minister and increasing sectarian tensions in lebanon. the crisis in south sudan, african leaders meet in kenya to discuss the on going conflict with the hopes of bringing an end to the escalating violence. corruption probe in turkey, and calls are louder for the prime minister to step down the prosecutor in charge of the investigation is silenced by being removed from the case. arctic rescue, researchers trapped for days and could be home ward bound as crews look to break the ice and clear the way.

♪ good morning to you and welcome to al jazeera america, i'm thomas and we are following breaking news this morning coming out of lebanon, the former finance minister chatah and four others including body guards have been killed in a car bomb and dozens injured and it happened in the downtown beirut a few hundred yards from the government headquarters and parliament building and there was panic and chaos in the seconds and minutes following the blast. troops deployed to the area and dominick cain has more and you may find some of the images disturbing. >> reporter: the scenes show the aftermath of the explosion, a car bomb detonated in beirut downtown business district. it killed the former finance

minister, the close aid hariri and a leader of the future movement and body guards killed and people nearby and blew out windows across a wide area and one retired lebanese general told al jazeera that all the leaders of the march the 14th anti-syria group were due to be in the area for a meeting when the bomb went off. >> the killer was waiting for very important target among those at the meeting and security measures but when you talk about terrorism and security can minimize the damage and it cannot stop it. >> reporter: one prominent academic described what kind of man mohamed chath had been.

>> mohamed chatah was a graceful and ideological man and one of the faces of the march 14 movement in the hariri group. >> reporter: the killing comes as he was preparing for meetings in january over the international tribunal looking in the 2005 assassination of the former prime minister hariri and a diplomate and he was ambassador in the 90s and it's his closeness to hariri now which may have cost him his life and dominick cain al jazeera. >> reporter: the former prime minister saad hariri said hezbollah is behind the attack. we will have more from lebanon in a moment. east africa leaders are meeting

as the u.n. confirms more military enforcement and equipment are being sent to south sudan to protect the civilian population. u.n. officials say two weeks of fighting claimed well over 1,000 lives and we are covering the summit and joins me from nairobi and good morning and who was there and what are they trying to accomplish? >> well, this is a meeting for the inter governmental authority on development, it's an eight-member east african block and the message and emphasis of the african leaders is to make it very clear of what is going on in south sudan is primarily a political conflict, not an ethnic conflict and that is what they are trying to resolve here by bringing the different parties to try to resolve the political differences. now, we have seen some of the heads of state arrive in the past hour.

notably we understand the president of south sudan will not be attending himself. he send his foreign minister instead because we understand he had already met with the kenya president and the ethopian in duba on thursday and not represented is the former party, the former vice president who is accused of starting the rebellion and at some point we issue the block to issue an indication for him to attend the mediation talk. >> reporter: i want to rewind a little bit, thursday in duba we met with leaders from kenya and ethopia and they have been urging the south sudaneze government with factions led by the former vice president masha and is this a sign of progress because the former vice president has yet to come to the table? >> yes. well, so far both sides have signals in principles and willingness to have a dialog, to

establish dialog between the two sides. we have heard that from the president and his government and the devil is in the details as they say because both sides established conditions so to speak, on one hand they insist that he must renounce this rebellion before it comes to the table and on the other hand they say the politicians who have been rounded up in relations to the rebellion are released first and seeing conditions from these two sides before they come to the table. so don't expect miracles to come out from this meeting. it appears to us as if it's yet another meeting in a series of meeti meetings that are going to take place to bring the two sides together but if either one of the sides has a compromise it's going to be very difficult to see any political breakthrough. >> reporter: we will see what comes out of the meeting and in

nairobi this morning. the taih government will have clashes between security and anti protestprotesters killed a injured people on thursday and the military is neutral in the turmoil and want the prime minister to resign and he has refused. a chinese ice breaking vessel is close to reaching a scientific mission ship that is trapped off antarctica and it was carrying people and on a month long scientific expedition and it was stuck 1700 miles south of australia and passengers are enduring temperatures below 50 and winds of 50 miles per hour and the arriving of help is welcome news to passengers. >> just a short while ago we heard on the bridge from the chinese ice breaker they were

close but the bad news is it's about 20 kilometers, a long way from us. over my left shoulder we can hopefully see gray sky and they call this water sky meaning it's reflecting on the cloud just above it. that is where the chinese vessel will get to us. >> reporter: they plan to continue their expedition after they are freed. their mission was to recreate australia explorer century old voyage to antarctica and more than 40 people have been killed after ten days of torrential rain and mud slides and the region is under a state of emergency and as al jazeera's reports some residents have lost everything. >> this is what ten days of torrential rain has done to brazil and the land is submerged by flood water and hills scarred

by mudslides and transportation cut and tens of thousands of people forced from their homes but they are the lucky ones. the mudslides have killed dozens of people and left more missing. >> translator: we only hope they find bodies of my children because i think the chance of finding them alive is doubtful. >> reporter: in most places the people had little warning of what was coming. >> translator: when i heard a noise there was no time for anything and pushing against the wall and got buried as well, and i grabbed and wood to pull my body true and i heard my daughter and when i freed her i heard another girl and got her out as well. >> reporter: they are coordinating the rescue and relief efforts and the president came here to see the operation for herself. >> translator: we have to save people and then guaranty them shelter. this is what you do when confront agree disaster, the first and most important priority, that is what is most

precious is human life and what we worry about saving first. >> reporter: but with so much of the infrastructure of the ferry lying in ruins it's clear when the waters finally recede rebuilding the state will be a difficult task. al jazeera. brazil officials say over 60,000 residents have been displaced. parts of the u.s. will be getting a dose of wet weather this weekend. for more on that let's bring in our metrologist. >> mostly wet weather this weekend and could be snow but a lot of warm air is coming up, with the next storm and lead to a lot of rain. this was the snow from yesterday and lake effect snow much better roads across pennsylvania and new england today. the temperatures are down below freezing barely and philadelphia and new york and the clouds and snow moving through kept the temperature up a little and barely above freezing there just in ohio. this was the snow that caused a lot of problems on the roadways yesterday. the last 24 hours shows that that snow has cleared out and we

have nothing here today. things are pretty quiet across the country but there is a little rain in south texas and it will hold off until saturday night where it really starts to intensify. look at this. this is a lot of rain. a little bit of snow there in western pennsylvania but for the most part a lot of warm up comes up with this and rain heavy at times throughout the day on sunday and mid-atlantic all the way up through new england and when this goes out the bitter cold arctic air monday and tuesday so for the start of the new year we are dealing with temperatures down below zero in the northern plains and 29 chicago for a high on sunday and the cold air is moving south and then pushing east so mid-atlantic new england has very cold air the start of the new year. >> we will talk more about the temperatures in a moment and thank you. we want to turn back to our top story the deadly bottoming in

beirut and more on the blast we go to al jazeera nick who is live in jerusalem and good morning to you. i want to start with casualties here. why was mohamed chatah targeted? >> i think chatah was a leading and eloquent and passionate member of a group of sunni politicians trying to bring down the president and one hand we have sunni groups in lebanon and rebel groups in syria who have been fighting against assad and on the other side we have shiite groups which are iran and hezbollah, a group in lebanon. the attack is blamed on lebanon and in some sense it's a blow back from the syrian war. it's also a tip for tat attack and we have seen car bombs similar to what exploded today against iran and hezbollah and the shiite allies last month and attack on the embassy and it was

a huge car bomb a month before that and in hezbollah neighborhoods in southern beirut. as we are dealing with a tit for tack conflict in lebanon there is a lot of people worried that lebanon is becoming increasingly unstable, the sectarian conflict in lebanon is becoming increasing in terms of on the streets and inside beirut itself, in the middle of the capitol and a lot of people in the region in israel worried that the war in syria continues to expand to the neighbors. >> reporter: it raises a critical question here as you know and mentioned nick this is not the first car bomb in lebanon this year, what is the government doing about the security situation in the country? >> i think it's very difficult. we spoke with one analyst in the last few minutes who said the government has gone out of its way to really try and secure downtown beirut and these neighborhoods that have been attacked. but you simply cannot defeat

every terrorist. you cannot defeat someone who is absolutely passionate about blowing up either himself in this case or a car bomb perhaps, we are not sure which one it is in downtown beirut. yesterday for example there were two hours of closures and police thought they found a car bomb in downtown beirut and didn't, that was a false alarm and today's attack obviously was not a false alarm and they are trying to prevents this and knew this was coming, they knew the conflict was getting larger and knew the tension was increasing and yet still despite all of the police and despite all of the military presence in downtown beirut they cannot stop the attack. >> reporter: we are in jerusalem this morning and thank you, the crisis as african leaders meet to find a solution to the violence, we will speak to a society of law if they will be able to accomplish that goal. indian elections who are the people running in india's general election next year?

and the vision they are laying out for the country. i'm jessica and upon further review those are the words comeing from the nba regarding blake's ejection and no word last night but working over time for the clippers and we will have the story in sports. ♪

. ♪ good morning and welcome back to al jazeera america, i'm thomas and we will talk to the former general of the law society about what it will take to end the on going violence in the country as leaders meet to try to accomplish the goal. as you wake up this morning what temperatures do you expect to see? and dave is here this morning. >> warming temperatures today but it will not last because we have a return of the bitter cold arcic air over the weekend and the temperatures are in the teens in minneapolis and chicago 28 and warmer across the northeast and billings 38 degrees. i'll show you that in a second. the computer will load. this is what the warmer weather does. 38 degrees here and then it will

continue to warm up. this is the actual wind that is coming over the mountains there and sinking on the eastern side and we do see that warm up there a bit there across the west, the northwest. on the eastern side of the rockys the temperatures are climbing and cold air on sunday. two below bismarck and fargo and that is what we deal with across the northeast next week. thomas. >> reporter: according to the u.n. more than 1,000 people have been killed since the conflict in south sudan began and we have the human rights activist and former secretary general of the south sudan law society and she joining us from nairobi kenya and thank you for joining us during this difficult time. >> thank you for having me. >> reporter: we have a slight delay here. international leaders, we have been talking about this all morning are trying to prevents

an all out civil war in south sudan and east african heads of state have a meeting in nairobi and how significant do you think this meeting will be? >> yeah, i think this is a very positive step in the right direction because the situation this south sudan is getting more ugly every minute, every hour so i think it should come together so that they can rescue the situation in south sudan because the african countries will be effected by this crisis taking place at the moment in south sudan. so we all hope that this mediation will bring the situation under control as soon as possible. >> the situation is getting worse, there is no government functioning, there is no life, there is no water, people are fleeing. the town is divided and this is a political conflict. would you ever imagine that

south sudan would unravel so quickly? >> yeah, it's really sad because 98% women and men of south sudan overwhelmingly to have an independent country called south sudan but now the country is no more there because of few political leaders who are very selfish who only think about themselves and now they are taking us back almost 22 years and i don't know how the people of south sudan will connect, you know, their future and move forward again. >> reporter: i want to get back. >> this country, which sorry. >> reporter: no problem, i want

to go back to the on going meetings here and they met with the president on friday, do you think their influence can help stop the violence? >> yeah, i think if they put their weight fully to the mediation, i think they can bring this situation, you know, back to normal and they have done it before. not only within south sudan but it was between south sudan and sudan and achieved this and resulted in the new nation called south sudan and i think they have the authority. they have the responsibility to also do it again. >> reporter: they will need cooperation from both sides and we will see where the talks go from here, human rights activist and former secretary general

from the law society and thanks for being with us this morning. next yoo india will hold parliamentary elections and a massive under taking for the world's largest democracy and one man who is a likely candidate and hugely popular and very devesive as well. >> reporter: they spent years documenting the twists and turns of indian politics and hard to over state the importance of next year's national election. >> until now never have these forces come so close to having a popular mandate. the forces which are as i said against the vision of india, against the secular and scientific region. >> reporter: one of the forces the doctor is talking about is india's main opposition, the

agenda party. the candidate is the chief minister, the state has been rallying voters across the country. and the campaign messages are full of hindu pride but his party insists it has no plans to uproot the multi fate foundation. >> the muslims are happy and let me tell you beirut has the highest growth rate of muslims in india. >> reporter: prime minister has led a coalition government since 2004. his congress party and its allies will have to convince voters who supported them in two consecutive election victories that they are still worth backing. >> we are getting the support of the people and there is a person and policy, that is not going to work. >> reporter: this election is being billed as a battle between india's two main parties,

congress and the b.j.p. and respective leaders but this is not a two-horse race. >> reporter: that is what democracy is about. >> reporter: smaller players library the communist party and regional parties are likely to determine who governs india next. >> you will have various parts of the country electing very different types of people, belonging to different parties and it's only natural that as india democracy matures its social diversity should reflect in its politics. >> reporter: considering the big problems that ionia faces winning the election may be the easy part, the country's economy is faltering hundreds of millions of people are struggling to keep up with the rising cost of living and public government and indian voters are more informed than ever before and who inherits the challenges will be held accountable for fixing them and al jazeera new

deli. >> reporter: leading candidate has long been accused of not doing enough to stop riots in his home state and over a thousand people and mostly muslims killed and he was cleared of the attacks. and sports here and wednesday they named williams the female athlete of the year and yesterday we learned who took the top honors for the men. >> not a big secret james is suprema and he may be the best ever but now he is flirting with it and he had the mail athle athlete -- male athlete joining larry byrd and michael jordan and says i'm chasing something that is bigger than me and the

basketball player and he talks about how to inspire youth and be looked at as a role model and if you are interested the quarterback peyton manning was second in voting. upon further review blake griffin and the clippers day mash up should not have resulted in ejection and the good thing is his legs were rested missing the fourth quarter when the clippers were on back to back games last night on the road and cleanup duty and chris paul running the show in this one with la up one cp 3 and we thought it was a dagger and part of 34 points but wait, the last second triple by nicholas and he sends it to over time. go to extra session and it was all aldridge and 24-5 and beat

the clippers 116. and the mavs picking up up and intercepting the pass and takes that the distance, spurs by 11 and mavs down 5 in the 4th and give it to the german and it cut the league to three and next played danny green and triple from the corner pocket and green money off the bench and he had 22 and the spurs beat them 116-107. and howard the game of the rockets against memphis and held at 2.6 and grizzly all first half and james johnson had a runner and cleaning up rebounds and doing it on every side of the floor on the 34 points for the grizzlys and jeremy lin would light it up for the rockets and 34-20, out scored memphis and had 22 of 25 of the

final and rockets within 100-92. let's talk college football. everyone getting ready for the rose bowl january 6 between florida state and auburn and we go to the little ceasers in the morning and taking the punt all the way to the house. but not to be outdone. here comes bowling green on the opening kick of the second half. boo boo gates and with a name like that you got to learn to run fast and 94 kickoff return and this would come down to special teams and the kicker chris blew it and thankfully not living up to the family name and 39 yard game-winning field goal and the final two minutes of the game and put pit winning 30-27 and afterwards panthers head coach giddy over the team's

performance. >> they are fun to watch compete and james is doing it on both end and they showed up big at the end and really happened to these players and be able to finish the season with a win like that means a lot. >> reporter: and to the illinois taking on utah state jordan lynch putting northern illinois on the board first and punches it from one yard and it's 7-6 niu but utah state aggie back on top in the third and here he comes garrison and brandon swindle for the score and 5-yard and 13-7 and go to the fourth, aggie with a 1-yard touchdown and they have it 21-14 and i'm jessica and a look at your sports and a little bit of everything. >> boo boo, huh. >> you got to be a good football player. >> run boo boo. blast in beirut and the latest on the deadly attack in lebanon that killed the country's former

finance minister. crack down in egypt the aggressive pressures some people are facing in the wake of the muslim brotherhood being declared a terrorist group. challenges to the economic rebound, america's youths are putting off moving out and how that is impacting growth.

♪ good morning and welcome back to al jazeera america and i'm thomas and let's get you caught up on the stories this hour. leaders are meeting for a summit on the growing ethnic unrest in sudan and follows the meeting between the president kurr and leaders from ethiopia and urges leaders to establish a dialog. a prosecutor in charge of over seeing a corruption probe in

turkey has been removed from the case and accusing the government of obstructing the investigation. three candidate administers resigned over the probe and soon after the prime minister ordered a major cabinet reshuffle. the former finance minister and four others have been killed and dozens injured following a car bomb attack in beirut. black smoke could be seen coming from the headquarters and parliament building and we report from the scene in lebanon where investigators are trying to piece together exactly what happened during the bombing and good morning to you, who do they suspect was behind the attack? >> officially they are not saying anything and not pointing the finger to any party. however we did hear accusations from different lebanese politicians who said the former prime minister was a close aid too and said whoever was behind the assassination it's the same

parties that killed his former former prime minister hariri and we know the suspects are either members or connected to hezbollah so that is where the pointing of the fingers is going to iran and hezbollah for the march 14 coalition and we heard from other politicians who said this is terrorism and all condemn the attack. >> reporter: what is being done to deal with security, is there fear there could be flare-ups of other violence? >> yes, definitely. this is not the first car bomb in lebanon this year. there has been previous ones, we had one car bomb that targeted iran embassy and two that targeted the southern suburbs of hezbollah and many people were killed and this attack is targeting another group and another car bomb because they are allied with the march 14 coalition and leading member of

the future movement of hariri and the place where this attack took place is central area and i will show you this is downtown beirut and this is the heart of the rebuilt area after the civil war. it's an upscale commercial, business and residential area. most of the tourists who usually come to lebanon spend a lot of time here either shopping or going to restaurants or nightclubs that is around the corner. as you said the government building is close by. the parliament is close by. so it's a very daring attack and will put more fear among lebanese that this attack could single more deterioration in the security situation. >> reporter: and we are reporting this morning. this really has been a tense situation. lebanon still recovering from its civil war that ended in 1990. arrest continue in egypt after the military backed government talked about the muslim brotherhood a terrorist agency

and 30 taken in and one died between clashes and prosupporters and john kerry called the foreign minister to express his concern and we are on the phone from cairo this morning. peter good morning to you. today is going to be a real test if the resolve of the government and brotherhood supporters with planned demonstrations after friday prayers and you are there, what is happening this mornin morning? >> one of the demonstrations from the city, which is opposition to the government and the police are behind the administration and tear gas has been fired into the crowd and they dashed away but the fighting is ongoing and there are ties at the end of the street. it looks as though demonstrators

are prepared to show up in the thousands and its willingness to carry this out and it seems that this is responding aggressively to the demonstration but not sure about the merge and backing away from this and backed down on the act of terrorism. >> joining us from cairo and thank you. a public prosecutor over seeing a corruption probe in turkey has been removed and he is accusing the government of obstructing the investigation. he says he was removed just as the probe expanded to include a new group of suspects including the turkish prime minister son and he is struggling to maintain control. three cabinet ministers resigned wednesday over the corruption

and soon after he ordered a major cabinet reself. al jazeera's amir is joining us from turkey capitol istanbul and reports of corruption is the prime minister's son, what can you tell us? >> well, i have to say that the report has no grounds because it's coming from one suspicious source i would say because this is a very volatile and very sensitive case and everyone is leaking information on purpose and that is why we have to be careful. now, the prosecutor who was removed from investigating the probe came out and said that he had ordered the turkish police to arrest a number of high-level bureaucrats as well as business men. the police refused the order.

now, what is interesting is that the prosecutor's boss, he is the istambul chief prosecutor said that he has been misleading the public and giving wrong information, so it's a very sensitive situation. you have to really watch what you hear and believe from different sources within the both parts i would say, both sides of this scandal. you need to remember as well that the government sends the start of this whole scandal as removed more than 100 senior police officials in this country. >> reporter: amir can you give us a sense of how widespread the probe is and what exactly is being investigated now? >> it is thought to be big and probably when you speak to people, commentators and different analysts they will tell you it will be even bigger

but let's speak to the numbers that we have. we have at least 89 people being investigated, 24 of them are now detained including the sons of two ministers. what is being are main two things among other issues and the two main ones are bribery for a construction project in different parts of turkey and the second is that a claim against a businessman who apparently had set a circle of turkish officials paying them bribes to high, illegal goal payments to iran through a state-owned bank. >> reporter: and amir in istambul, turkey this morning. the man accused of opening fire last month is pleading not guilty and believe paul ciancia killed a tsa agent and killed three others during a shooting

spree at lax airport inside the terminal and the trial will begin in february. more documents detailing the sandy hook elementary school shooting will be public and they are releasing a report of text, photos and 911 calls thousands of pages long. the document is not expected to offer much new information but it's release marks the end of an exhaustive probe of the tragedy last year that stunned the country and brought a national debate on school gun violence. there are signs the u.s. economy is on the rebound but one new trend is slowing growth and we report not enough young people are creating new households. >> 24-year-old spends her nights surrounded by nicknacks from childhood and in her mom's house. how old were you when you first got this? >> i may have been 11 or something, i was kind of little and it was a christmas bizarre at my school. >> reporter: one of millions of

18-32-year-olds in america who are not starting their own households and this not only effects her family but the american economy. and they are setting up fewer house ohol households and the rate is down and quite a bit of economic implications. many consumer services and consumer durables are tied with setting up your house. and rent and booing demand for construction and transportation to and from her home and buys goods and services including furniture, power, water, internet, food, electronic, a tv or durals like a washing machines, all of her needs translate into jobs for other people but she is holding back waiting for the right time to move. >> it made more sense to kind of be at home and working on building up and saving and getting ready for grad school than be struggling and living down the street. >> reporter: the u.s. labor department reports 11% of people

in her age group who want a job can't find one. that is much higher than the national average and forcing many young americans to count every penny. >> a movie ticket is two trips to chipolte and it's counted in buritos. >> reporter: they are getting a late start and calculated 1-3 of 32-year-olds heads their own households. >> it's not a stigma because we are all doing it and makes sense and our parents know none of us can really afford to live outside of their homes. >> reporter: there may be times where you say i want to go home and be by myself. >> every once in while. >> reporter: 1.1 million households are created each year but only 380,000 households were created through the past three quarters through september and the home builders association say 3 million households are not

built because of the great recession and she is determined to move out of her mother's basement and joining the foreign service but until her first check comes she is not budging, al jazeera silver springs maryland. >> reporter: and less households are created and construction starts will not return to normal and slowing economic growth in the u.s. this is making sense in the business world this morning and investors may be sorry to see 2013 to come to the end and the markets are on pace for the best performance in 18 years and futures are currently flat at the hour and this is how we stand, dow 16480 and yesterday was the 50th record high for the index this year, s&p 5 00's 1842 and up nearly 30% for the year. the nasdaq is 4167. returning to work and stocks are higher in germany in record

territory and this is up more than 50% this year. fueling yesterday's rally was new data showing fewer americans filing for unemployment benefits and raised confidence in the jobs market but one analyst urges caution. >> we have more hires this year than we had in 2012 so that is obviously a positive sign. but what you have to look at is the quality of those jobs and whether they are career, if they are career jobs or whether they are waitresses and store clerks. >> reporter: the nation's unemployment rate is down to 7%. twitter is shaping up to be the best newcomer to the market in 2013. shares have nearly tripled since the public went public last month and shares are $73 and up 182 percent from ipo and not bad for a company that lost money last quarter.

lucky fliers are capitalizing on a delta glitch for two hours and delta's website was incorrectly offering some incredible deals and one example a round trip flight between cincinnati for february was sold for $25 and the correct price is $400. delta fixed the problem but says it will honor the fares. rebuilding after destruction, the progress resident in the central philippines in recovering following a devastating earthquake and bit coins is helping those in need while honoring his late friends. ♪ throwing a few punches is a holiday tradition? how residents in one south american town settle their disputes one hate maker at a time. ♪ >> welcome to al jazeera

america. >> stories that impact the world, affect the nation and touch your life. >> i'm back. i'm not going anywhere this time. >> primetime news: weeknights at 8 and 11 eastern. only on al jazeera america. 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 i'm phil torres. coming up this week on techknow.

welcome back to al jazeera america, just ahead giving back

in a digital age, how one man is looking to help the less fortunate using a digital currency growing in popularity and the big impact it's having and first will you need the umbrella, what about the shovel? and dave warrens has you covered. >> more umbrella than shovel and there is a storm developing and bringing mostly rain to the area and it's quiet and lake effect snow with cold air that has come in from the northern plans and pushing east and the area of snow over ohio and northwestern pennsylvania and accumulations today and 24 hours and western new york but not much compared to what we saw yesterday through pennsylvania causing problems on the roads and quiet across the country and radar and the clouds is clear and look what will happen on saturday night to sunday, there is a lot of rain across the mid-atlantic and the northeast and then it gets to colder air and significant snowfall coming late this

weekend. >> the philippines hit by natural disasters recently and last month the typhoon killed more than 6,000 people and in october 7.2 earthquake rattled the record and 200 people dude and from one providence hit hard by an earthquake resources are stretched thin and it's a struggle to rebuild what they lost. >> more than two months since the family lost everything they worked hard for. the earthquake that struck the central philippines destroyed their home and livelihood but he is grateful he says because for at least now he has found a job. >> translator: it's a bit hard because you don't know where to begin, where to get the money to rebuild everything. but in god's grace we managed to make the most out of the situation. >> reporter: more than 200 people were killed. the earthquake destroyed roads, schools and hospitals. here in the town here lives are

slowly improved and most of the children here have gone back to school and there is food, water and electricity but people say their future is still uncertain. over 4,000 homes need to be rebuilt. that is a huge task for a town with limited resources. and so for now people will have to live like this, in temporary shelters and with no clear idea as to when they can go back home. government resources are stretched. the mayor tells us it's not the infrastructure that needs rebuilding. >> how people are coping and how people are rehabilitating themselves but on our end from the local government unit we are working, first for the rehabilitation of the persons, the promise that the experience would easy up. >> reporter: people here say all they can do now is to keep

the faith. hoping that it won't take too long before life can go back to how it once was and i'm with al jazeera central philippines. >> reporter: scientists say two reasons why the philippines is prone to natural disaster because it's near warm ocean waters and on the pacific earthquake and volcano ring of fire. and they had their day at the beach spoiled by biting fish in the piranna river and children lost parts of fingers and toes and says such incidents are actually rare. in peru the best way to settle the score is with a little bare knuckle boxing. believe it or not every christmas some people in the andies fight each other and air grievances and work it out with fists before the start of the

new year and a celebration that includes men, women and even some children. there are rules for this annual festival and referees and local authorities keep an eye on everything and other than a few bumps and bruises they usually leave with a smile. bit coins for charity, have you heard of this? bit coins are virtual currency and buy and use them on line but they are hoping a florida homeless center spread the wealth and we have the story. >> the is tragedy of losing his friend inspired jason to tackle the homelessness in pensacola and his friend was murdered. >> trying to memorialize him. >> reporter: his out post was born, after one of shaun's friends out reach for the homeless lost funding and they began feeding the homeless one meal a week and ten months later the charity has served more than

26,000 meals and he purchased this nine-acre property with no panhandling allowed in city limb limits homeless can live here undisturbed. >> i have a shelter and not worried about the cops on me. >> reporter: what is unusual is king accomplished all of this using bit coin, the virtual currency that let's you buy things in the real world and king pays the mortgage property with it. king says the out past has already raised about $50 thou from bit coin donors in more than 43 countries. >> the community i mean it's just they are the kindest people i ever met. >> reporter: he does not solicit donations in any other form and no way he could have made so much money so quickly, he trades the currency with participating rhea tailors, in exchange for gift cards to purchase food and other items. bit coin is like a stock and the

price flush waits. in early december one bit coin went to $1200 and dropped to $700 but even with the ups and downs king says bit coin is the most efficient way he has found to tap into a global community of donors and the out post is not the only charity that sees benefits of bit coin, there is an organization called bit coin 100 and the mission is to encourage charities around the world to use bit coin and the benefits is instant benefits and no credit card or processing fees. and he preaches the gospel of bit coin delivering meals to the homeless and jessie and his two friends were living the street using free wi-fi at a park on laptops and smartphones when king introduced them to bit coin and found ways to make money by doing on line tasks for websites and odd jobs in exchange for the digital currency and last month

they moved in a house. >> we were three homeless guys sitting in a park and you know bit coin kind of inspired us and made us want to get off the street and get into a place so we can better ourselves. >> reporter: to the skeptics who think it's a bubble waiting to burst and king says the value keeps increasing and the ranks expanding. >> bit coin is going to change the world for everybody. >> reporter: it's already changing the worlds of the homeless and i'm with al jazeera pensacola. >> reporter: the value surged over 1,000 on some exchanges. at the end of our first hour we have what we are following. >> the former finance minister after a car bomb and 22 injured and black smoke seen hundreds of yards from the headquarters and parliament building and meeting in kenya and there to discuss the growing violence in south

sudan and erupting two weeks ago and nearly 1,000 people killed. a turkish prosecutor is removed after seeing a massive corruption probe involving the prime minister's inner circle and say it's blocked by turkish police force and one prosecutor. we have quiet weather but a storm developing this weekend will change things dramatically and the timeline in your area. >> and al jazeera continues and we are back with you in 2 1/2 minutes. have a great morning. ♪

al jazeera america is growing and now more americans are getting the high quality, original, in-depth reporting al jazeera america is known for. >> to find out more about al jazeera america go to aljazeera.com

>> political assassination, a former lebanese finance minister is killed in a massive blast in lebanon. what does this mean for sectarian violence? >> turmoil in turkey, a corruption scan tall threatening to bring down the prime minister. >> how to end the conflict in sudan, african leaders meeting to discuss stopping the escalating violence there. >> racing to help researchers onboard a ship frozen in the an arctic sea.

>> good morning. welcome to aljazeera america. i'm del walters. we continue to follow breaking no, sir out of lebanon. the former finance minister and four others including bodyguards have been killed in a car bomb and dozens of others injured. that blast happening in the heart of downtown beirut just a few you said from the government headquarters and parliament building. there was panic and chaos in the seconds and minutes that followed the blast. troops were deployed. we are there. you may find some of these images disturbing. >> these chaotic scenes are the immediate aftermath of the explosion, a car bomb detonated in beirut's downtown business district. the blast killed the former finance minister, a close aide to the exprime minister and one of the leaders of the future movement. bodyguards were also killed and dozens nearby wounded. the force of the blast blew out

windows across a wide area. one retired lebanese general told aljazeera that all the leaders of the march 14 anti syria grew that were due to be in the area for a meeting when the bomb went off. >> the killer was waiting for very important targets among persons going to that meeting. when you talk about terrorism, security can minimize the damage, but cannot stop it. >> one prominent academic described what kind of man he had opinion. >> he was a very prominent, very bright, very graceful and intelligent man but ideological man who was one of the faces of

the march movement. >> the killing comes as he was preparing for meetings in january over the international tribunal looking into the 2005 assassination of the former prime minister. a prominent economist, diplomat, he served as his countries ambassador in the 1980's. >> lebanon's foamer prime minister said hezbollah is behind this attack. a writer for gulf news and political analyst joins us via skype outside buy rot. why was the former finance minister a target of this attack? >> well, this man was a very moderate voice in lebanese circles, although he was part of the machicolation. he has been extremely vocal

during the past several years, attacking hezbollah specifically, calling it to withdraw from syria and return to lebanon. i suppose one could say that this is payback for his eloquence to insist that hezbollah must submit to the will of the government of lebanon, which of course hezbollah has not done. perhaps that might be the reason behind the assassination. >> there are going to be those that look at these images and they are going to be asking should web looking at the beirut of yes, sirster year marred by violence. >> they might be right, although many killed, made homeless and millions have left the country, nothing has changed on the ground. the political realities have not

changed, and the agreement that ended the civil war, were not implemented. today, the government of lebanon is trying to reconcile itself with the fact that it has a problem and it has so far failed to come to terms with the tact that there are two regional forces that are trying to articulate its foreign policy. the lebanese are caught in the middle of this. they don't know how to extricate themselves from the kinds of troubles that have been imposed on them. of course when you are not aware of the problems that you have at home, outsiders will very easily manipulate those. >> are there con as she is that this situation may be complicated by the factors taking place outside the region? in other words, are you seeing fingerprints of other countries involved in this type of violence? >> well, i think in the past few

years, we have seen turmoil throughout the region. next door to lebanon, of course, the uprise in in syria is having direct spillover effects in lebanon. it is daunting. i cannot find words to explain the impact that the civil war is having less than 100 miles away from where i am actually sitting, and we have 1.5 million sued dan refugees in the country, that's one of out of every five lebanese citizens. it has a huge impact with, plus the borders very powerrous, people going back and forth, weapons smug would back and forth. whatever happens in syria has an immediate impact here and worst of all is the fact that hezbollah and lebanese party is fighting on the side of the government in syria, so therefore, the complications are bound to be a lot more complicated in the future, a lot more difficult to resolve in the

future than people assume. we're in for very tough times ahead in lebanon. >> what will this bombing today do to the sectarian violence across the region? >> unfortunately, sectarianism is being exacerbated. if in lebanon you had in the past a muslim christian sectarian fight, today we see the opposition to the sunny populations bunk affected, but you have a new schism that has now started between sheeties and sunnis. the fact that you do have political rivals like iran and saudi arabia, they are duking it out in places like syria, lebanon, even egypt complicates matters even further. i think sectarian difficulties will not go anywhere anytime

soon. that what we're going to have to deal with are the kind of political repercussions where every country must come to terms with its own internal demons. the lebanese have failed to come to terms with their demons so far, sectarian and otherwise. >> before i let you go, there is one final question i'd like to ask you. are you convinced that the leaders there can contain this particular outbreak of violence? >> i would like to believe that there is one, but i don't see anyone on the horizon. lebanon historically has always settled on weak leader ships. throughout its 70 year history, lebanese have compromised and not solved the problem with the one exception between 1958 and 1964 where we had a strong leader. the history of this country

indicates that always relied on weak leaders. when a a strong one comes along, opponents immediately take him down as was the case today. >> thank you very much for joining us this morning. that is a senior writer with gulf news, also a middle east political analyst. he joined us from beirut this morning. >> a special summit on the growing political unright foot in south sudan comes as the u.n. confirms more troops and equipment are being sent to protect civilians. two weeks of fighting has claimed well over 1,000 lives. aljazeera is covering the summit in nairobi kenya right now. who is there and what are they trying to accomplish? >> del, we have here a meeting for the intergovernmental authority, an eight member east trick condition block. the primary message that these

african leaders are trying to get out is that essentially what's going on in south sudan is a political crisis, a political conflict, not ethnic. this was made very clear by the kenyan president during his visit to juba on thursday, something that they ar they are reiterating here today. a foreign minister was sent. we're not seeing the other party to the conflict, a former vice president, who's being accused by the south sudanese government of masterminding this rebellion. we are not seeing him who are. what we are seeing is a chance to jump start a possible dialogue to put an end to hostilities on the ground. don't expect miracles coming out of nairobi just yet. >> if the key parties aren't there, is this more, i dough dressing for the united nations and those concerned in africa or

is there a real sense that as perhaps the days progress, something might happen? >> well, it's very important for east african leaders to have had this meeting, because what's at stake here is not just the situation inside south sudan and the potential that this political conflict could further spiral out of control and turn into an all out civil war. what's at stake really here is the entire east african region. there are concerns that beyond the south sudanese borders, it's important for the officials to come together to put an end to this conflict and ve solve it as soon as possible. we are told this is a meeting in a series of several other meetings and we do expect a call for mediation to be issued out

of here. the stumbling block is going to be the preconditions set by both sides. the fact that the government insists that this rebellion must be announced, that he insist that those political prisoners rounded up in connection to the rebellion must be released first. what we need to see at least is an attempt to get both sides to issue any sort of signs of good will or compromise in order for a real the accident political resolution to be jump started here. >> thank you very much. >> an attack on the presidential palace of central africa's republic has been put down. the attack was launched using rockets. the government was able to repel the attack. there were no reports of injuries on wednesday. an ambush killed six african peacekeepers and injured others. fighting between christian and muslims has killed hundreds,

forced hundred was thousands to three that are holes. >> dozens have been killed and thousands made homeless, 1440 killed after days of rain and mud slides. two states have been hard hit prompt i can brazil to issue a state of emergency. some residents have lost everything. >> this is what 10 days of torrential rains have down brazil's state. land is submerged by floodwater, hills squared by mud slides. transportation has been cut and tens of thousands forced from their holes. they are the lucky ones. the mud slides killed dozens of peel and left more missing. volunteer we only hope that they find the bodies of my children, because i think the chance of finding them alive is doubtful. >> in most places, the people had little warning of what was coming. >> when i heard a noise, there was no more time for anything. i was pressing against a wall

and got buried. i held on to a piece of wood to pull my body free. i heard my daughter asking for help and freed her. i heard another and got her out, as well. >> the president came to see the operations herself. >> you have to save people and then guarantee them shelter. this is what you do when confronting a disaster. the first and most important priority, that which is most precious is human life. that's what we worry about saving first. >> with so much of the infrastructure of this area lying in ruins, it's clear when the waters finally recede, rebuilding the state will be a difficult task. aljazeera. >> officials say more than 40 people have died in those floods. more than 60,000 residents have been left homeless. >> a winter snowstorm hitting the midwest and some northeast states leaving holiday travelers with slick and dangerous roads.

icy conditions are being blamed on several multi-car pileups and crashes along the pennsylvania turnpike. this happened in redding, pennsylvania. those thick roads were shut down for hours. ten were injured in that crash. >> you may not be waking up to snow, but it doesn't mean you're in for a dry weekend. for more, we turn to david warren. >> the weekend is starting off dry, nothing like yesterday, but watch that snow, just a little bit came through the area, a few inches, but just a little snow on a cold untreated surface can make it slippery. do not have that today. these are lake effect snow showers, accumulation expected in western new york an pennsylvania. 5:00 yesterday morning, that's where the snow was, but it cleared out. this whole storm moved off the coast and took the rain and snow with it. now look, pretty quiet. the start of the weekend is clear except for a little snow around chicago and the great lakes. that will continue to push east. rain developing in southern texas is the next storm we are

talk about and will go from 5:00 today to 6:00, 7:00 tomorrow night. overnight tomorrow, the storm really intensify. over the weekend, we are talking about a lot of rain. you see this rain coming right up the coast, maybe colder in the western portion of pennsylvania, west virginia where it's cold enough to see the rain change over to ice and snow. that this is a lot of rain with warm air coming up with this storm. saturday night and sunday is when it really otherwiseses, so dealing with that heavy rain. that will be clearing out by monday. what's coming in behind is is bitter cold air. wind chills in north and south dakota monday morning. by monday afternoon, tuesday, the start of the afternoon will be very cold and blustery across the mid atlantic and northeast. we'll look at temperatures and the chance for more precip coming up. bundle up, thank you very much. >> the chinese ice breaking vessel now close to reaching a mission off the coast of

antarctica on a month long expedition. it go ahead stuck tuesday south of australia. they endured temperatures well below zero. their imminent arrival is welcome news to passengers. >> just a short while ago, we heard on the bridge from the chinese ice breaker vessel that they're close. the bad news is the sea ice is 20 kilometers out from where we are now, a long way from when we first got locked in. just over my left shoulder, you can hopefully sea gray sky. that's what they call water sky, reflecting on that the clouds just above it. >> the researchers say they plan to continue that expedition after freed. their mission was to recite the century old voyage to

antarctica. >> getting fined for getting a divers, men penalized for leaving their lives. >> $72.75 billion. that's our big number of the day. one analyst says it falls show the of the mark.

>> take a look at that number, today's number of the day, $42.75 billion. that's how much money people spent on line by skipping the crowded malls and grabbing their goods by clicking the mouse. market research firm said it fell short of expect is as, but the numbers jumped 10% from last year. package delivery companies were overwhelmed, causing gifts to be delayed. brick and mortar stores aren't pleased, seeing their sales numbers slip between thanksgiving and christmas. welcome back. turmoil in turkey as a corruption scandal rocks the prime minister but first let's find out about temperatures across the nation today. >> when you step outside, you'll feel it's a little warmer out there. that will not last, though,

because cold air comes back by the end of the weekend. you want to call chicago 24 a little warmer, this cold arctic area will push east and get warmer today. right about freezing in washington, d.c. and new york, billings up to 37 degrees. there's wind out there going down the eastern side of the rockies. it warms up quite a bit here. that storm brings in the warm air, coming up from the south. also, it will bring in the cold air by the weekend. here's the highs on sunday. maybe close to 40 or 50 to the south, the cold arctic air returns, down to below zero for a high there and that will push east to new england by the start of the new year. >> the public prosecutor overseeing a corruption probe in turkey has been taken off the case. accusing the government of obstruction, he says he was removed just as the probe expanded to include new suspects.

struggling to maintain control there, three cabinet members resigning thursday and the cabinet shuffled. a very fluid situation, so how close is this investigation to the prime minister? >> well, we don't know how close it is. what we do know that there is a power struggle with between to two main islamist blocks in this country. now it seems that the battle has moved within the judiciary system, and the police. when the scandal started on december 17, the government was very quick in replacing senior police officials and the government also issued a regulation demanding police chiefs to ask for permission from their bosses before carrying out any raids. now the new development is that one of the turkeys high courts

has blocked that regulation, and that could mean there will be more investigation and even this investigation could be even wider and possibly it will lead more senior people in this country. >> do we have any idea how widespread this corruption probe is? >> well, according to the numbers coming from the judiciary and the police, we do know that at least 98 people are being investigated. 24 of them are now in jail, including the sons of two ministers. of course, those ministers resigned a few days ago. now what's interesting is that the whole group of people are investigated for many issues, but the main ones are paying bribery to implement some construction projects in turkey and the second is there is an

accusation against an azerbaijan businessman who made a ring of officials by which he pays them bribes and kickbacks to allow some illegal gold sales to iran to evade u.s. sanctions. >> the elections are around the corner, the prime minister a likely candidate. how will this affect his political future? >> well, the elections coming up in march are local elections and the prime minister will be not running in those elections. what we do understand that this scandal will, could possibly affect the ruling party. march will come and then we will find out how well the governing party is. you need to understand that the a.k.p. party has been ruling this country for 11 years and

they have big popularity throughout the last decade. now, this scandal is one of the biggest challenges that they face ever, especially the prime minister. >> now, we are seeing these images, people taking to the streets protesting, demanding that the prime minister stepped down. are they still on the streets? >> well yes, after the scandal, the probe broke out on december 17. there were a number of protests across different towns and cities. i have to say their numbers could be from the hundreds up to thousands. we do expect that there will be a protest later today in istanbul. we don't know how big it is. now, the main demands of those protestors one for the government not to get involved in hindering or preventing the investigation and they are calling on the government to allow the investigation to take full course. in have to say there are a small

number. there is a small number of people who are demanding the prime minute at her to resign. >> aljazeera joining us live from istanbul. omar, thank you very much. >> there are more documents detailing the sandy hook schoolle shoot i can that will be made public today, state police release in texts and 911 calls. the document is not expected to offer any new information, but its release marks the end of the probe of the tragedy last year that stunned the country and brought about that national debate on school gun violence. >> business news at this hour, investors may be sorry to see 2013 to come to an end. the markets are on track for their best performance in 18 years, the future's flat at this hour. yesterday was record high for the in definitely.

in europe, traders returning to work from the christmas break, stocks are higher. the nikkei us up more than fist% this year lube. >> fueling yesterday's rally was the new data showing that fewer americans are seeking unemployment benefits, raising confidence in the job market. one analyst urges caution. >> we're on a pace to have more hires this year than we had in 2012, so that's obviously a positive sign. when yowhat you have to look ate quality of those jobs and whether they are career jobs or waitresses and tore clerks. >> the nation's unemployment rate now down to 7%. >> a deadly explosion rocking beirut, a former finance minister is killed, his assassination now threatening to increase sectarian violence. >> child brides in kenya still being married despite the

practice thatout lawed the practice. >> how bit coin is helping to tackle a real life crisis at a florida homeless shelter. >> from the spirit of giving this holiday mistaken, one nfl player is truly giving back. we'll tell you how later in sports.

>> from our headquarters in new york, here are the headlines this hour. >> al jazeera america is the only news channel that brings you live news at the top of

every hour. >> a deal in the senate may be at hand and just in the nick of time. >> thousands of new yorkers are marching in solidarity. >> we're following multiple developments on syria at this hour. >> every hour from reporters stationed around the world and across the country. >> only on al jazeera america. >> welcome back to aljazeera america, i'm del walters. a prosecutor in charge of a corruption probe in turkey has been removed from the case. he's accusing the government of obstruction. three ministers have resigned, the prime minister also shuffling the cabinet there. people are taking to the streets demand in the prime minister step down. >> east african leaders are meeting to discuss the growing

unrest in sudan. that that follows the meeting in juba. both sides are urged to start talking to establish a dialogue. >> lebanon's former finance minister killed in a targeted assassination, he and five others including some of his bodyguards are dead, at least 70 injured, that blast occurring in the heart of downtown beirut just a few hundred yards from the government and parliament buildings. >> for more, nick joins us live from jerusalem. nick, a high profile target, former finance minister, why was he assassinated? >> he was the former ambassador to the united states. he was an eloquent and outspoken member and leading member of a group of lebanese politicians who have supported the removal of syrian president bashar al assad. on one side, we have sunni politicians in lebanon allied

with soon any rebel groups inside syria who have been trying to take down syrian president bashar al assad. on the other side, we have assad and his allies, iran and hezbollah, the militant group in lebanon being blamed for this attack. what we're seeing is blowback from the war in syria. the worry is that this blowback is not only on the border with syria and lebanon but getting more violent and more into the heart of beirut. before today's attack we had an attack on the iranian embassy in downtown beirut, before that attacks on hezbollah neighborhoods in southern beirut. all of these car attacks. we're seeing a kind of tit for tat violence and blowback from syria that seems to be getting worse. >> what has been the reaction to this massive car bombing? i think the worry is for the whole region, not only from israel here, but for lebanon,

for syria, for jordan. all of these countries have been slowly destabilized by the civil war now and its third year in syria. there are millions of refugees coming across from the violence as the violence is really crossing the borders. what we saw this morning is a at the same time from the former prime minister in lebanon. he said basically all but blamed hezbollah for the attack. not only did he do that, but reiterated hezbollah for the attack on his father in 2005. that destabilized lebanon for years. the sectarian violence we've seen in lebanon has all these neighbors concerned. that we've seen it for decades. the worry is it is getting worse because of the war in syria and getting worse because of a political vacuum in lebanon. an analyst said the attacks are becoming the language of political dialogue. when that happens, the violence

is only going to increase. >> nick, if the violence in lebanon goes unabated, are we seeing a return to the days where lebanon was a dilly staple on the evening news? >> most analysts would say no. most say we're going to get this tit for tat violence, the car bombs, violent terrorist acts that either assassinate people or are in groups of the public basically to send a message. that's what's a little more worrying about today's attack. not only was it an assassination of somebody, but it was in town town beirut, the business district. this is an area that really survived the lebanese civil war and survived the last couple years of violence. it's the first time in this area that we've seen any kind of violence in two or three years. the worry is that the violence is encroaching on beirut and not

only a tit for tat violence, but a violence that sends the message to all people in beirut, nowhere is safe. >> nick, thank you very much. egyptian security forces are cracking down on supporters of ousted president mohamed morsi. there are renewed calls for mass rallies there. clashes left one person dead yesterday. morsi supporters launching fresh demonstrations against the government because of its decision to list the muslim brotherhood as a terrorist organization. >> in thigh land, both sides are wanted to negotiate peacefully. clashes killing a police officer and injuring about 100 people on thursday. the government says they will ask the military to protect voters in upcoming elections. protestors want the prime minister to resign, but the prime minute at her has refused

to do so. >> world leaders in russia to talk about removing syria's stockpile of weapons. the focus on how to meet the upcoming deadline for those chemical weapons to be removed. 1300 tons will be carried out of the country by russian armored trucks and shipped across the mediterranean. the u.s. and china have agreed to protect those shipments, including must start gas, sarin and other nerve gases. >> an investigation by russian forensic scientists say that former palestinian leader arafat was not poisoned. scientists say he died of natural causes nine years ago, but a swiss report published last month says otherwise, saying high levels of a rare element polonium were found inside his body. there is moderate backing for the poisoning theory. a new report from a russian scientist claimed arafat died of

natural causes. >> the man accused of opening fire inside the los angeles international airport and killing a t.s.a. agent is bleeding not guilty. last month, he opened fire inside l.a.x. seven others were injured. he faces the death penalty if found guilty. >> an appeals court in pennsylvania ordering the release of a click clergy man convicted of child endangerment. he served one of three years of his sentence. that pennsylvania super court dismittsing the case after his attorneys argued the state's child endangerment law only applied to parents and care givers. >> in kenya, marrying off young girls is being challenged. zell is predigitted as the month young boys and girls are circumstance sum sized. >> schools are closed and they should be at home with their

families. if they go home, they risk being married off by their parents. rose and elizabeth both 16 now, escaped marriage in 2008 and 2009. >> i went back home last year, but my father did not want to see me. he was so angry that i had shamed our family by not getting married to the man they had chosen for me. they still have not returned the cattle they took for me, so i'll stay here at least until i finish high school. >> they have to stay in a rescue center enwestern kenya. poverty and deep rooted traditions have forced thousands of girls in parts of rural kenya to marriages. the problem is particularly persistent. she is 20 years old, married off at 16 as a second would you have, now with two children, no

education or even any skills. she feels hopeless. >> when i got married, i was so young. i did not know how to manage a family. life has been so hard for me. that i regret having not finished school. >> there are laws that have criminalized under age marriages in kenya, but the communities still practice this culture, now do it in secret, making it very difficult to be detected. this man, one of the most affected regions, believe that is communities must relate to the laws. >> when the proposals for a loss that have direct public interest, there should be equally a public mobilization so that it is widely known that this law is meant to regulate all kenyan communities at the same time. >> so he says they'll do things

at the local government level, pass tough county laws and campaign heavily to make sure the laws are understood and why the tradition must end. >> in the meantime, many girls like rose and elizabeth must keep hiding in rescue centers, their only refuge. >> in kenya, it is illegal to marry before the age of 18. some rural communities believe it is important. they want to marry their girls or young so their virginity and honor are preserved. >> trying to combat away extremely high divers rate by forcing men who divorce their wires to pay up. a hefty price where most people live on less than $2 a day. >> in bangladesh, one in 500 women died during pregnancy and childbirth. it is one of the highest rates

anywhere in the world. most of those deaths can be prevented, but it's not that easy. we report. >> it's been a year since his wife died, but his young son doesn't understand where his mother has gone. she died on the way you to hospital after complaining of severe pain. she was 23. he believes she may have been saved if help had been closer at hand. >> i couldn't get her to hospital on time. there are no doctors around these parts. >> the main causes of death among pregnant women, pregnancy and eclam see ya, a form of higher tension. many women don't have access to professional health workers. one in six women give birth at home. in the past 10 years, the countries pop thatlation has risen 30% but health workers remained the same. officials admit most of the work is left up to charities.

>> in areas where they are unable to do anything, charities step in and provide support. >> it is these women who hand out advice on pregnancies and health matters. >> the majority live in rural areas. it can take up to an hour to get to a clinic. most women have no choice but to give birth at home. >> the number has been down by 40%. the increased use of contra septemberives have helped and the number of clinics gone up. it is still on course to meet the development goal to reduce maternal death by 2015, yet charities say their work is hampered by stringent conditions laid down by you international bodies like the word health organization. >> definitely whenever you are talking about alarming systems, there are processes. >> many women in bangladesh will continue to risk their lives the

moment they fall pregnant. >> jessica taft joins us now with sports. one of those story that is warms the heart this time of year. >> absolutely. as much money as athletes make, you love when you see them give it back. john kidna played for the seahawks, bengals, lions and cowboys, but didn't start the season on the dallas roster. with tony romo's injury likely taking him out of sunday's whipper take all game against the eagles, he will be back in the big d. and not forgetting those he left behind. >> when former quarterback john kitna found out he was returning to dallas as a backup, he decided to put his money where his heart is, in the classroom. he will donate his game check to lincoln high school in at a coma washington where he has been a math teacher since retiring from

the nfl in 2011. >> john's a very generous person. we're in the weight room he and his wife donated to the school. >> he has been teaching where his son is a quarterback. now he is making a quick return to the big stage. >> i run the high school scout team, so, you know i keep throwing and working my son out all the time. i throw it back to him, but other than that, i wasn't staying in shape to think i was giving it another shot, that's for sure. >> in the classroom, his students embrace the situation. >> it's not really a surprise. he's taking the money and giving it to us, because he's just always doing stuff start school. we can tell he's really passionate about what he does here. >> he's a very humble guy, quiet and soft spoken.

when he teaches, he comes to life. he's got a really large personality. >> he will once again wear the star on his helmet before thousands of streaming fans on sunday, but shortly thereafter will return to his biggest supporters. aljazeera. >> if the cowboys beat the eagles and clinch a playoff, things could get interesting, because high school is back in session january 2, a few days before the cowboys would host a playoff game. >> tough balancing act there. by the way, this story just one of many in the year of sports. sports headlines ranged from doping scandals like a-rod to nfl concussions and protests over the name of the washington redskins, to name a few. that joe is a columnist at sports grid and joins us now live. what was the big story of 2013? >> easily the boston red sox winning the world series for two reasons, less importantly, because no one picked this team to do anything.

they were picked to finish last in the a.l. east, the boston bombings, those terrorist attacks happened on patriots day. >> it was like one of those ones that you write in a book. if you're a sports columnist, you are saying nobody would believe this if you said it would happen that. >> exactly. the biggest story is the most heart-warming of the year. >> we go from the heart warming story to the controversy involve in steroids, alex rodriguez. that has to be up there, too. >> he's like the toronto mayor ford. a-rod will simply not go away. in this case, he was caught cheating once a couple of years ago, lie to say katey couric on national television. then major league baseball says we have the goods on you again. in ted of taking his medicine is now suing major league baseball. with a-rod, it's never his fault. >> 2013 was the year of the concussion, 18,000 former nfl players suing the league, the league settling, but

concussions, every parent wondering should my child play football. >> my wife and i just had a daughter recently, she obviously wouldn't be playing football, she's a girl. if we had a boy, my wife said he is not playing football. it's hard to disagree with her because of all of the concussions that you see on the pop warner level. in the case of concussions in the nfl, $765 million was awarded to all these players. you say wow, that's a lot of money. the nfl generates $10 billion a year, however, so it really is only a pittance. in this case, that $765 million, half will be paid over the first three years, the next half over 17 years, so you don't see that right away. most importantly, suns there was a settlement, there is no trial. without a trial, there is no discovery, we don't know when the nfl knew and when they knew it. i think that's the particular shame. >> do you think others should go forward with trials to find out

what the league knew and when it knew it. >> it would be nice to know. the nfl is taking more steps now to make sure players around leading with helmets, getting fined or 15-yard penalty seemingly on every play, scoring has gone up. yeah, that would be nice to know what the nfl knew and when. >> i'm a fan of the washington team but the name itself is the thing generating the most controversy, despite the fact that they stuck up the joint this year. >> you said the washington team, are you one of those reporters that will not say redskins. >> i have not weighed in on that. i'll let you take it. if it's offensive to the native americans one have to ask yourself why and its controversy. >> sunday night football, big audience, they said the name should be changed. president obama said i would probably change the name. here's the funny thick, though, no protests outside of the redskins stadium. ok? the team is still second in the league in attendance, despite

having a horrible season. fans not voting with their wall lets, still buying tickets and merchandise. if you're the redskins owner, you have no compelling reason to change the name if you're not getting hit in the wallet. i don't see a name change happening anytime soon. >> that you can for being with us. what a year it was. >> thanks for having me. >> bit coins doing their bit to help the homeless. how the virtual currency is used to feed families. >> a fighting festival that let's people air out they're grievances the old fashioned way, bare knuckle brawling. >> primetime news. >> welcome to al jazeera america. >> stories that impact the world, affect the nation and touch your life. >> i'm back. i'm not going anywhere this time. >> primetime news: weeknights at 8 and 11 eastern. only on al jazeera america.

>> good morning, welcome back to aljazeera marrying. i'm del walters. in a few moments, we'll tell you how a virtual currency is helping a real-life problem down south in florida but first let's find out just how cold it's going to be, how wet it's going to be, whether it's going to rain or snow where you live and dave is here with all the answers. >> mostly this weekend, we will

be talking about rain, a big storm developing will bring rain to the mid atlantic and northeast. that will be by the end of the weekend. we do not have any snow in the forecast in areas that got it yesterday, just a little snow but made roads very slippery. there's lake affect snow, area of snow across the great lakes moving to pennsylvania. this is what to expect on sunday, a storm coming up the coast will bring air with it approximate. snow could be heavy had across new england. that is late this weekend, sunday into murders. once this clears out, it's followed by bitter cold arctic air. >> another space walk scheduled to begin this morning, nothing is broken or damaged. two russian cosmonauts are going to be exiting the space station for the will have and final space walk of the year. the excursion will be to install photographic equipment on the

space station. the work isn't related to the space walks earlier this week to replace the faulty coolant pitch. >> bit coins for charity, you buy them and use them on line. in reality, they're helping a florida homeless shelter spread the wealth. we have the story. >> the tragedy of losing his best friend inspired jason king to tackle the tragedy of homelessness in pensacola. sean duga was murdered last year. >> it was a very brutal crime. it affected my family a whole lot. for a long time they were trying to figure out a good way to memorialize him. >> sean's outpost was barn. after one of his friends for the out reach program lost his funding, the charity began feeding once a week. now they have served more than 26,000 males. king purchased this property. that with no pan handling allowed, the homeless can live

here undisturbed. >> it's a lot better out there. i've got a shelter, i'm not worried about the cops on me. >> what is unusual is king accomplished all of this using bit coin, the virtual currency that lets you buy things in the we'll world. king even pays the mortgage property with it. king says sean's outpost has already raised $50,000 from bit coin donors in 43 countries. >> the bit coin community is just the kindest people i've have met. >> he doesn't solicit donations in any other form. he said there is no way he could have raised so much money using more traditional methods. here's how it works, with participating retailers in exchange for gift cards to purchase food and other items, bit coin is like a stock in that the price fluctuates. december, one bit coin soared to $1,200. it dropped to 700. even with those ups and downs,

king said it is the most first way he's found to tap into a global community of donors. sean's outpost isn't the only charity that sees the benefits of bit coins. there's an organization called bit coin one hub. its mission is to encourage charity's around the world to use bit coin. instant payments and no credit card or processing fees are benefits. king is a bit coin evangelist. he preaches the gospel of bit coin even when delivering males to the homeless. jesse and two friends were living on the street. when king introduced them to bit coin, they found ways to make bit coin money doing on line tasks for websites and offering to do odd jobs in business change for the digital currency. last month, they lived in this house. >> we were three homeless guys sitting in a park and bit coin kind of inspired us, made us want to, you know, get off the

street, get into a place so that we can better ourselves. >> to oh discuss bit coin waiting to burst, king says the valuing keeps increasing and the rank of devotees expanding. >> i think bit coin is going to change the world of everybody. >> it's already changing the lives of pensacola's homeless. >> by the way, the value of bit coins has surged this year, so expect to pay a thousand dollars on some exchanges. and from bit coins to let's say a bit of the in sane. in peru, the best way to settle the score is with a bit of bare knuckle boxing. take a look. >> this happens each and every christmas. some people in the candies fighting each other. they air their grievances and work it out with their fists before the start of each new year. it includes men, women and even some kids. there are believe it or not, rules for this annual festival. referees and local authorities keeping an eye on things and

other than a few bumps and broses, the fighters usually leave with smiles. >> at the end of our second hour, here is the stories we are following this morning. lebanon's former finance minister and five others killed following a car bomb in in beirut. at least 70 others have been injured. east african leaders are meeting to discuss violence in south sudan. >> a turk issue prosecutor taken off a massive corruption probe looking into the prime minister's inner circle. >> a big storm will affect part of the country this weekend. we'll look at that and the temperatures coming up on the forecast. >> i'll be right back in two and a half minutes.

every sunday night join us for exclusive, revealing and surprising talks with the most interesting people of our time. this sunday. >> we try to be funny in serious stories which is very, very rare. >> he made radio cool with his sense of humor, insight and curiosity. he opened a new window into american life. >> before they know it we're actually able to present something new that they haven't heard about. >> talk to al jazeera with ira glass.

>> political assassination, a massive explosion rocking beirut killing a former finance minister and increasing sectarian tendings in lebanon. >> the cries in south so do not, african leaders meeting to discuss the on going conflict to bring an end to the violence. >> corruption probe in turkey as cries grow louder for the prosecutor to step down, the prosecutor in the situation silenced and removed from the case. >> arctic rescue, researchers trapped for days in ice could soon be home ward bound at rescue crews look to break it is ice and clear the way.

>> good morning, welcome to aljazeera america. i'm del walters. we begin with that deadly explosion in lebanon. the former finance minister and five others including some of his bodyguards have been killed in a car bomb and dozens others have been injured. that blast happening in the heart of downtown beirut, just a few yards from the parliament building and government headquarters. there was panic and chaos in the several minutes following the blast. troops have now been sent to that area. dominic cain is also there. you may find images disturbing. >> these scenes show the immediate aftermath of the explosion, a car bomb detonated in beirut's downtown business district. the blast killed the former finance minister.

the force of the blast blew out windows across a wide area. one retired lebanese general told aljazeera that all the leaders of the march 14 anti syria group that were due to be in the area for a meeting when the bomb went off. >> the killer was waiting for very important targets among persons going to that meeting. when you talk about terrorism, security can minimize the damage, but cannot stop it. >> one prominent academic described what kind of man he had been. >> he was a very prominent, very bright, very graceful and intelligent man but ideological

man who was one of the faces of the march 14 movement. >> the killing comes as he was preparing for meetings in january over the international tribunal looking into the 2005 assassination of the former prime minister. a prominent economist, diplomat, he served as his country's ambassador to washington in the 1980's. >> lebanon's former prime minister said hezbollah is behind this attack. >> we go to jerusalem. nick, why was he assassinated? >> del, we don't know exactly why, but one leading theory is blowback from the war in syria.

he was from a group trying to unseat syrian president bashar al assad. on one side, we have the sunni politicians in lebanon allied with the sunni rebel groups fighting assad inside syria for the last two years. on the other side, we have assad and his shiite allies, that is hezbollah that we heard mentioned. today, hezbollah is blamed for the attack. we are seeing a kind of blowback from syria. the worry is that it's getting worse, not only on the lebanese, syrian border, but infiltrating into beirut. before today's attack, there was an attack on hezbollah neighborhoods, so this tit for tat violence is blowback violence. it's beginning to destabilize lebanon. >> when has been the reaction in the region to his death? >> i think whether here in

israeli or lebanon or syria or jordan, the big worry is that this violence is destabilizing the entire region not only because of the violence, but the humanitarian aspects. you have millions of refugees pouring across the borders into these countries. the former prime minister basically blamed hezbollah for today's attack. he also reiterated that head bowl la in his opinion killed his father in 2005. so we've seep the sect tarian violence destabilize lebanon in the last decade. the worry is that it's being exacerbated by the conflict, by a political vacuum currently in lebanon. as an analyst put it to me this morning, these car bomb attacks are really bumming the language of political dialogue. when attacks become the language of dialogue, then the violence is only going to increase.

>> with that as a backdrop, what is next for lebanon? >> i think the big worry is a real gyp stability and real sectarian conflict and tension. not only that, a real permanent message to the citizens of beirut. i would say this district, where this car bomb went off is a business district, that really remained upskatinged through the lebanese civil war for that decade and even the last few years it was the first time this area has been attacked and the first time this kind of political assassination in this area that we've seen in a long time. the worry is that tit for tat violence will increase, the blowback violence will increase. he was a moderate, reaching out to hezbollah. he wanted to create a unified front in lob no one. the worry is that reaching out, that moderation, will die with hill. >> from jell, nick, thank you

very much. >> three nato personnel have been killed in a bomb attack in afghanistan next to the military base in kabul. sixty afghan civilians were also injured. authorities haven't released the nationalities of those killed. 12 company litigation troops have died this month, including soldiers who died in a helicopter crash just 10 days ago. >> leaders are in russia to discuss syria's chemical we say. that teams are organizing how the chemicals will be taken out of the country, by russian trucks to the mediterranean. the operation should be finished by mid 2014. >> east african authorities are leading on the unrest in south so do not.

the u.s. confirms more equipment being sent to protect civilians. well over oh 1,000 lives have been claimed in violence. we are covering the summit from nairobi. >> eight east african leaders are attending the summit to reach a political to the situation in south sudan. the primary concern is going to be to try to put an end to the hostilities, to the fighting on the ground, which is still continuing in at least two locations in south so do not even as the summit takes place. the second step will be to try to get to the more complicated task at hand, which is to discuss the potential dialogue between the two sides involved in the conflict. on the one hand, the president is attending the summit, but the other party, the former vice president is not. we understand that an invitation maybe extended to him to attended talks in nairobi at a later stage but he is not attending the summit for protocol reasons. this is an actually gathering

for heads of tate. so far, both sides have signaled willingness in principle to open a dialogue, but there are specific conditions. the government insists that rashar must renounce the rebellion and he in hissing that the 11 politicians arrested in relation to the rebellion should be released first. of course, what african leaders are trying to establish here is to perhaps get any signs of good will or compromise from both sides, without which it will be very difficult to see any political resolution to this conflict. >> military leaders aren't ruling out intervention in thailand. so far they have remind neutral, wanting both sides to negotiate posefully. clashes killed a police officer and injured 100 people on thursday. the government will ask the military to help protect candidates in the upcoming elections in february. protestors want the prime

minister to resign, but so far, the prime minister has refused to do so. >> a controversy military base in japan will be removed easing tensions between japan and the sufficient. that base on oak noah island is going to be relocated. they have been calling for relocation because of crimes committed by u.s. military personnel. it is considered to be a part of the u.s. military plan to bolster presence in the pacific. >> a chinese ice breaking vessel now close to reach a trapped ship off antarctica. it was an a months long scientific expedition. it got stuck tuesday. passengers onboard and during temperatures wellle below zero with winds approaching 50 miles an hour. the imminent arrival of help is welcome news to passengers. >> just a short while ago, we heard on the bridge from the chinese ice breaker vessel snow

dragon close. the bad news is the sea ice is 20 kilometers out from where we are now, a long way from when we first got locked into sea ice. you can hopefully see gray sky. they call it water sky, basically means the open waters are reflecting on the clouds just above it. that is most likely the move the chinese vessel is going to take to get to us. >> their mission was to recreate a century old voyage to antarctica. >> more than 40 people have been killed following 10 days of rain and mud slides in brazil. that region is under a state of emergency. some residents say they have lost everything. >> this is what 10 days of torrential rains have down brazil's state. land is submerged by floodwater,

hills scarred by mud slides. transport and communication links have been cut and tens of thousands of people have been forced from their homes. they are the lucky ones. the mud slides have killed dozens of people and left more missing. >> we only hope that they find the bodies of my children, because i think the chance of find i can them alive is doubtful. >> in most places, the people had little warning of what was coming. >> when i heard a noise, there was no more time for anything. i was pushing against the wall, but got buried, as well. i managed to found a piece of wood and grab object to it so i could pull my body free. i heard my dear asking for help. when he freed her, i heard another girl. i got her out, as well. >> the government mobilized relief efforts. the president came to see the operations herself. >> we have to save people and garb tee them shelter. this is what you do when confronting a disaster, the first and most important priority, that which is most

precious is human life. that's what we worry about saving first. >> with so much of the infrastructure lying in radio ins, it's clear that when the waters finally recede, rebuilding the state will be a difficult task. >> officials in brazil say more than 60,000 residents have been displaced. >> some of you are going to be getting wet this weekend and for more on that, we turn to david warren. >> just wet with a lot of rain we have coming in this weekend. the temperatures will be warming as this next storm approaches, and that will mean good news for areas that have a little bit of snow yesterday. that caused some slick roadways there in pennsylvania. still some lake effect snow here in western new york and northwestern pennsylvania, but that area of snow here at 5:00 yesterday morning gone, it's cleared out, moving off the coast of new england. now pretty quiet weather today except for the little bit of know in the northwest, northern plains, all quiet cross the southeast, all the way to the

west, dry where it's fairly clear. this rain here is south texas is the next storm developing. this will bring a lot of warm air up the coast this weekend. saturday looks clear. it's still getting organized along the gulf coast but by saturday night to early sunday, the air comes up the mid atlantic into new england. it's starting to see a little mix here. that is rain freezing or coming down to snow with just a little area though. much of this is rain and this will be sunday night to early monday. by monday afternoon, that storm's gone, but behind it some bitter cold arctic air. there's temperatures down below zero for a high with a gusty wind. that means the wind chill's could easily about 20 to 30 degrees below zero at least. that cold air will continue to push east. it goes from 40 to snow there in chicago and highs basically above send degrees with single digits and low temperatures both monday and tuesday into the start of the new year. so the cold air comes back. del. >> crackdown in egypt.

we'll talk to an expert on what some of that country is facing now that the muslim brotherhood is declared as a terrorist group. >> the fallout that could lead to people being out health insurance. >> members of pussy riot talking about president vladimir putin.

>> welcome back to aljazeera america. i'm del walters. tensions are on the rise in egypt after the military-backed government designated the muslim brotherhood a terrorist organization. we're going to be talking about that with an expert on what it means for the country's future but first let's find out about your temperatures across the nation. >> they are a little warmer today, not nearly as cold and warming to about the freezing mark in new york, so a nice change from yesterday, 33 in washington. cold in atlanta and well below freezing in the northern plains.

montana, the temperatures are warming just east of the crockies, that wind warming as it sinks. you can clearly see the temperatures in the rockies, temperatures climbing in montana and northern plains. that will be today. not the case on sunday and monday. high temperatures, below zero in fargo and bismarck. minneapolis, the cold arctic air comes back starting the new year. >> the egyptian police clashing with muslim brotherhood supporters in cairo and across the country. that tear gas was fired at university students. other clashes yesterday left at least one person dead. loyalists of ousted president mohamed morsi are launching french demonstrations against the government because of the recent decision to label the muslim brotherhood as a terrorist organization. we are joined from washington, d.c. this morning, good morning to you. >> good morning.

>> the muslim brotherhood has been outlawed, leaders arrested back in september. how significant is wednesday's announcement that the party is now a terrorist organization? >> well, it's very significant in a lot of ways. it means that they are pushing the level of repression further and further. you have trumped up charges against morsi and his government, charges of terrorism, which almost certainly involve groups that aren't part of the muslim brotherhood. you've frozen their finances, which means much of their welfare activity can no longer function, including some of the most efficient hospitals in cairo. along with this, you've also cracked down on virtually all the moderate opposition, anyone who criticizes this sort of military regime at tall risk imprisonment or losing their job. instead of watching a move toward stability, what you also see is no real progress in

economics, no return to tourism, no move toward broader stability. >> trumped up charges against mr. morsi, why the phraseology of trumped up charges? >> i think trying to find as an excuse for a criminal charge renationalization of a company before he is elected, you are simply groping for some kind of legal excuse. i think that secretary kerry has made it clear that there needs to be more caution not only about this, but about charges of terrorism. you don't go to extremes. you don't create a situation which can polarize and divide egypt if what you're trying is to create a situation of stability, something that allows egypt to move forward. >> the u.s. handling of the situation in egypt thus far, what grade would you give it? >> well, i think you'd have to give it a b minus. the problem we face is we do in

virtually every area where these political upheavals have occurred is you have the choice of the least bad alternative. there's no good group to back. there's no sudden way america can exert leverage. you have to do what you can in the situation where people are struggling for political power where it's become almost a blood sport, whoever wins tries to crack down on the losers, and often whoever wins can't govern, can't shape the economy, can't bring the people together. in a case like egypt, we've tried to put in a strong ambassador and egypt evidently has made that impossible. that kind of leverage basically gives us at most trying to do what we can, and i think quite frankly, could we have done better? perhaps. but could we have done something that would somehow change everything? no, not from the outside. >> are we seeing, i guess the

shifting politics in that region and is the u.s. now no longer a factor? >> well the u.s. is certainly a factor. we have leverage in terms of trade and aid, political influence, but the whole history of revolution, violent political upheavals, power struggles is that outside powers rarely if ever can shape the outcome. these struggles go on because everyone involved sees them as existenial, that's their whole life whether they win or lose and they are not going to listen to outside powers or let side shape them. in the end, they still have to deal with the outside world. they still have a find a security position in dealing with other countries. they still have to be part of the global economy. the question is when does this sort itself out, what kind of leverage do we have once the internal power struggles are

over. but this isn't a matter of the united states having some kind of foreign policy position relative to any of these states. in every case, it's a set of internal power struggles over which no one has decisive influence. >> so when we talk about egypt in the future, is it safe to still call egypt a democracy and if not a democracy, what would you call it? >> >> well one can question whether it has ever really been a democracy. most of the elections have either been rigged or occurred under conditions where there weren't stable political parties, there wasn't a working constitution. the very nature of the vote was uncertain. egypt has really at this point got to evolve. it has to find a more stable political structure. it also has to have an economy. it has to have a stable social structure, education, government, functions that work beyond the struggle for power

and repression. that's been an on going problem in egypt and is a problem that is even worse today and where it is far from clear to what effectively is now a military junta is going to be anymore lasting in many ways than the morsi government was. >> thank you very much. good to see you again. >> we are following some breaking news coming out of eit. we're receiving reports that one person has been killed and a southern province after clashes between supporters of the muslim brotherhood and police. we will continue to follow that story and keep you posted of any new developments. here's what's making news in the financial world this morning. some lucky flyer is cashing in on a computer glitch at delta. for two hours, delta offering incredible fathers, between nook and l.a. for $40, well blow the $400. delta fixed the problem but will

honor those fares. >> the markets on track for the best performance in some 18 years. the futures are flat. yesterday was a record high for the index. in europe, traders returning to work, stocks there higher. tokyo's nikkei is up 50% this year alone. >> twitter shares have nearly tripled since the company went public last month. shares are now up more than $73, that is 182% from the i.p.o. that's nod bad from a company that lost money last quarter. >> there are some reasons for the u.s. economy to be on the rebound. one is the new trend slowing

growth. not enough young people are creating new households. >> 24-year-old spends her night surrounded by all sorts of knicknacks from her childhood. she's in her mom's house. >> how old were you when you first got this? >> i think i may have been 11 or something. it was a christmas bazaar at my schoolle. >> she is one of millions who are not starting their own households. her decision not only affects her family, but also the american economy. >> millennials are setting up fewer households, the rate is down and that has had quite a bit of economic effects. >> many do yourables are tied to setting up a household. >> she had moved out and had to buy goods, further, power, water, internet, footed,

electronics, a t.v. or durables like a washing machine. all of her needs translate into jobs for other people, but she's holding back, waiting for the right time to move. >> it made more sense to come and be at home and build up and saving and getting ready for grad school than be struggling trying to live like down the street. >> the u.s. labor department report people in her age group who want a job can't find one. it's forcing many young americans to count every penny. >> a movie ticket is like two trip to say chipotle. everything is counted like in burritos. >> millennials are getting a late start. only one of three of 18-33-year-old says head their open households. >> it's newt stigma, because we're all doing it. our parents know none of us can afford to live outside of the home. >> there must be times you wish be you could come home and be by

yourself. >> every once in a while, but it's not that bad. >> 1 million households are created each year, but only 380,000 through the last quarter in september. in all, the national home builders association said more than 3 million households never formed in the u.s. because of the great recession. >> eat i can and having somewhere to live, that would be hard to do both. >> she is determined to move out of her mother's basement next year. she's joining the foreign service. until her first check comes, she's not buzzing. aljazeera, silver springs, maryland. >> the on line real estate firm truly says unless more new households are created, construction costs won't return to normal. >> the blast in beirut, the deadly attack that killed the company's former finance minister. >> the problem plagued healthcare.gov website getting a less than stellar diagnosis from some. that we'll tell you what it

would take to breathe new life about opinion in the program. >> the return of aaron rodgers, letter on in sports.

many worry that the gains made in education will not stick in the future. aljazeera's jane ferguson takes us to a school in kandahar city that was long considered a success and is now facing closure. >> it's a place offering more than these girls know, a quality education in real tangible skills, a path away from positivity and early marriage and towards university and a career. since 2002, the modern stud has been teaching women languages, like management and computer skills. that they are skills that speak of ambition which in the heart of tallle ban country is remarkable. >> we are a unique school, preparing women to go to jobs. our school is preparing women to go to universities.

>> good morning, welcome back to aljazeera america. i'm del walters. these are our top stairs at this hour. east african leaders are meeting in nairobi, this for a special summit on the growing political unrest in south sudan. this follows a meeting in juba from leaders. they are urging all sides in south sudan to establish a dialogue. >> the prosecutor in charge of overseeing a corruption probe in turkey has been taken off the case. he accuses the government of

obstruction. thee cabinet hipsters resigned this week, the president ordering a major cabinet reshuffle. >> lebanon's finance minister and five others were killed following a bomb attack in beirut. dozens were injured. black smoke can be seen just a few hundred yards from the government headquarters and parliament building. we are at the scene right now in lebanon. do we know who is behind the attack? >> the finger is not painted at anybody. they are trying to look for everything possible they can find. our cameraman is going to zoom first to that building under construction. under that building is where the car bomb was parked. the cameraman is going to take you to another car. you see the remains of this car, that is the car of the minister.

its blast was so powerful, the car flew and landed in this spot. the minister was a leading figure for the future movement. he was a very close aide and advisor to former prime minister and his assassination is a big blow not only to the march 14 coalition, but even to the sense of security for all these politicians and lebanese in general. >> our reporter nick reporting a series of bombings over the past several months saying they stem from the tensions in syria. is that what you are hearing, as well? >> yes. you know here, the march 14 coalition, the future movement leader pointed the finger to iran and hezbollah. that according to the international investigators, the suspect in the killing of the prime minister have very strong connection to say hezbollah. the lebanese politicians are

very driven and determined that these are the people behind the attack, but again, the investigators are not saying anything. what we know so far is that this attack happened in the background of the crisis in syria. this is something all politicians agreed to. the civil war there is having an aftermath on lebanon. if there is no political solution to the syrian cries and to the political difference here, the security situation will deteriorate even further. >> you're there on the ground. you're in beirut. do the people of beirut feel safe now as a result of what happened today and what is happening just across the border? >> you know, as one person told us, this attack got people into a lot of despair and they lost hope, because they feel also that this is not a battle that only concerns lebanese. they feel they are being used. in the previous car bombs that

took place here this year that tarted shiite areas in beirut, we heard hezbollah officials accuse saudi arabia and officials accusing iran. many people feel these explosions and attacks are actually a battle between the saudis and iran on lebanese soil, on lebanese ground at the expense of lebanese blood. >> joining us live from beirut, thank you very much. stay safe. lebanon still recovering from that civil war, it ended in 1990. >> the public prosecutor overseeing a corruption probe in turkey has been taken off the case that. he says he was removed just as that probe expanded to include no suspects. the prime minister is struggling to maintain control there, my cabinet minute terse resigning.

we are in the turkish capitol now. we see the turkish court blogging a new government requirement that the police release information about these probes. what can you tell us? >> yes, well, one of turkey's extreme course is called the council of states has annulled new government regulation calling on judicial police, obliging those carrying out restorations. this investigation could be widen org it could involve more people being detained or arrest. if you remember, when the crisis or the scandal broke out and started on december 17, the government was very quick first firing several high ranking

police officers for failing to tell their superiors, and second, they are basically the government is accusing certain powers within the states of having influence and trying to leak some confidential investigations to the family. >> now, how widespread is this corruption probe and have we seen an investigation of this scale before? >> no, we haven't, but probably, it will be wider, especially now with the new ruling from the high court. we do have to mention the fact that as we -- as of the moment, there are 98 people being investigated, 24 of them are in custody. two of them are sons of syria ministers and they are basically being investigated about a number of issues, but the main

issues are two, first is bribery to carry out construction, megaconstruction projects in this country. the second, it receipts to as doeazerbaijanen businessman, mag illegal gold sales to iran, helping to evade sanctions. >> an investigation by russian scientists say yasser arafat was not poisoned, he died of natural causes, but a swiss report published just last month maintains otherwise, saying that high levels of the rare and highly radioactive element polonium were found in arafat's body. there is mod are rhett backing for the poisoning theory, scientists rejecting it outright along with the new report from

the russian scientists. they both claims that arafat died of natural causes. >> there is a new study out that suggests there might be a link between alzheimer's and traumatic brain injuries, showing those who develop concussions are at risk for plaque in the brain. patients with memory problems and history of head trauma had more plaque than typically found in people of alzheimer's disease. that study appearing in the journal nature. >> the affordable care act is undoubtly one of the biggest news stories of 2013 with white ranging implications for americans, but there were other news in the health world and medical world and they are worth taking a look back at. here to help us now to do that is an edidemiologist from columbia university. before we get to some of the big stories of the year, we want to talk to you about a study published in the new england

journal of medicine about the need for a type of knee surgery. what is this about? >> the study published about two days ago took 146 patients who are told by doctors that they had to have arthroscopic knee repairs of the meniscus. they took half of them and gave them a sham surgery. they put them under anesthesia, made the same incisions they would have made for the surgery and then woke them up and obviously after having stitched, and then gave the other half a full knee surgery. then a year lawsuit, they looked at the outcomes. they found those who had the sham surgery did not perform that much worse prom those who had the real surgery. what is suggested is that doctors maybe over prescribing these types of surgeries for patients who require or had damage to the meniscus. that said, doctors do warn that

there are a subset of patients who probably do benefit from this surgery over a sham. the findings do suggest that these surgeries are parole overprescribed. >> we cannot look back without talking about that botched rollout of the affordable care act. even the president said that it was messed up. what is the impact on the millions of americans standing in line wanting to know what happens to my insurance? >> absolutely. so the a.c.a., the patient protection and affordable care act, which is what's commonly called obamacare will dramatically reshape the way doctors and patients interact with the health care system. it's left sort of millions in the dark. 2014 i think will be the year where we ultimately understand the influence that this new legislation is going to have on the way that most patients and providers interact with the health care system. so it's really so early, it's too early to tell. that said, like you said, the botched rollout in particular of

healthcare.gov definitely did political damage to the obama administration and certainly the way that people perceive the a.c.a. i think we'll to have wait and see for that. >> 2013 also the year we saw an increase in measles, of all things, things we thought there were vaccinations for. why? >> well, it's mostly because people around vaccinating their children. so this year, we saw almost a 300% rise in the incidents of measles. 89% of measles cases this year were among children who had not received their vaccination. increasingly, we're seeing an urban mostly higher social yo economic areas people questions whether vaccinations are the best thing for their children. most of that is driven by bogus research showing a connection between vaccinations and autism. we're seeing newer issues.

>> people spend billions of dollars on vitamins each and every year object only to be told that their benefits may be what? >> yeah, so, annals of internal medicine in just this last issue in december, 2013, featured three studies looking at the effect of multi-vitamin use. they found multi-vitamins useless in patients not told specifically by a doctor that they need to be supplementing a particular vitamin. that suggests that multi-vitamin use may be costing patients with no extra benefit for them. in fact, some vitamins in particular beta kerotine and others may be harmful. >> thank you very much. >> we have some big news coming out of the packers camp. jessica taft joins us to tell us more about the status of aaron

rodgers. >> if you heard a big collective sigh, about 2:38 p.m., that is when head coach mike mccarthy told everybody he's back. yes, quarterback aaron rodgers finally gets the green light to play. he hasn't played since november 4 when he broke his collarbone and joined the team practice just this last month in a limited role. in his absence, the packers went 2-4-1. the news comes days before the packers take on the bears in their win are take all regular season finale and rodgers teammates happy to have him back for what is the biggest game of the season. >> it's a great feeling. i think it kind of has the team in high spirits. i think flynn did a great job filling in for him, but i think it definitely brings the spirits up a little bit. >> it's a confidence booster for the offense and defense. you know, when you got $100 million quarterback, one of the best players on your team

and in the nfl culls back. he helps both sides of the ball, you can kind of feel the vibe. everybody was really excited. we in the run. we got to make a run. it's championship time, and to get your best player back is huge. >> on the college gridiron someone who won't be returning is the michigan state senior linebacker, suspended for vitalling team rules, making him in eligible for the rose bowl. he was a two-time team captain. >> following blake griffin's christmas day ejection with golden state, the clipper was animate he should not have been tossed. upon review, the league agreed. it does no good now, but fired up the clippers star for last night. griffin was on cleanup duty early on. check him out. off the miss from crowd, but blake there with a two happened jam, just throwing it down and then his teammate chris paul was

on fire. two of his 34 points right there won't look to be the dagger, but next possession, time winding down, the trailblazers tie it up with the three and we are headed to overtime. then in the extra session, wow, all blazers. marcus aldridge had the show going on two. he passed the clippers. >> in houston, howard spent time with that warm up ball. was in foul trouble all throughout the game. james johnson, big minutes off the bench, 12 from him early on as the graze had a lead at the break. the rockets didn't fuel until the fourth. jeremy lin got hot from outside and the rock sets outscore them 34-20 in the final period, james harden putting in 22 of his points from the line.

houston won. let's talk about more hoops. this is from a star from the field, another award bestowed upon the reigning king of the court lebron james. he becomes just the third nba player to receive the honor of athlete of year. he is the reigning league m.v.p. and says he has a bigger calling than basketball, inspiring youth and being looked at as a role model is what inspires him. >> take a look at some home movies. you see bare knuckle boxing, that's the way to clear the air in peru. take a look. happy new year. every christmas some people fight each other, air their grievances and try to settle the score before bringing in the new year. it is a celebration including

men, women and even some kids down there. the annual festival does have rules, referees and local officials keep an eye on everything. other than a few bumps and bruises, the fighters usually leave with smiles. >> we call this christmas dinner. >> like thanksgiving at my house. >> rebuilding after destruction, following the devastating earthquake in philippines. >> why the astronauts are going out to work on the international space station for the second time this week. >> people without a high school diploma or g.e.d. the role technology is playing to combat that problem.

>> and now a techknow minute...

>> welcome back to aljazeera marrying. just ahead, we'll tell you about fighting to recover that we're going to be checking in on the residents of the central philippines after that massive earthquake struck the area in october as they work to rebuild their lives but first let's find

out if it's going to rain or snow where you are. >> not much left after the rain and snow. we are looking at a lot of rain and a little snow. this is just lake effect snow in an area moving across ohio and liquor re. that could push through western pennsylvania, western new york this morning. not seeing that snow we had yesterday, that's cleared out. this is just lake effect snow today, western new york seeing a good amount here. there's a little near lake erie. that snow is cleared out from yesterday. this is the storm that brought a few inches, but on untreated mistakes with the temperature below freezing could that i can ma very slippery on the roadways. rain will move up the coast through the weekend. the timing of this looks like by 4:00 saturday, still getting organized with rain across the gulf coast but quickly moving north intense filing, bringing warm air with it. a huge area of rain here sunday afternoon and evening with a little snow in western pennsylvania. what to expect, well, there's a

lot of rain accumulating and colder air, could see a bit more snow by sunday and monday. >> it is no secret the philippines plagued by natural disasters of late, typhoon haiyan left more than 6,000 people dead. before that, a magnitude 7.2 quake rattled the count arery. that more died then. one province was hard hit by the earthquake. >> it's more than two months since this family lost everything they worked hard for. the earthquake that struck central philippines destroyed their home and livelihood. he is grateful because at least for now he has found a job. >> it's a bit hard, because you don't know where to begin, where to get the money to rebuild everything, but in god's grace, we managed to make the most out of the situation. >> more than 200 people were killed. the earthquake destroyed roads, schools and hospitals.

here in the town, life is slowly improving. most of the children have gone back to school. there is food, water and electricity, but people say their future is still uncertain. over 4,000 homes need to be rebuilt. that is a huge task for a town with limited resources, so for now, people will have to live like this, in temporary shelters and with no clear idea as to when they can go back home. >> government resources stretched. the mayor tells us it is not only for structures that need to be rebuilding. >> how people are holding up, rehabilitating themselves. on our end, prom the local government unit, we're working, first for the rehabilitation of the persons, the traumas that were experienced little by little is up. >> the damage is unprecedented, so people here say that all they

can do now is to keep the faith, hoping that it won't take too long before life can go back to how it once was. aljazeera, central philippines. >> scientists say the islands are prone to natural disasters because they're near warm ocean waters. they're also located on that valuele cantic ring of fire. >> another space walk taking place this morning. these are live images that you're looked at. nothing darlinged or broken, russian cosmonauts installing equipment on the hull of the space station. their work is not related to walks earlier this week to replace a faulty coolant pitch. >> some disturbs numbers, one in every six american adults don't have a high school diploma. many are preparing for the g.e.d., providing a gateway to higher identification, but starting that year earning that is going to get harder and more expensive.

>> what do we notice? >> >> you can break the four down. >> years after they dropped out of school, these students are in a hurry to make up for lost time. at the academy of hope in washington, they are all preparing to take the g.e.d. exam to win them a credential they hope will lead to a better life. even past middle age, some test takers see it as a passport to a higher income. >> absolutely, positively refuse to cheat myself. i'm doing what i need to do to get to where i new he had to get to. >> advancing their own education isn't just a benefit for these students. before national surveys show low literacy parents limit their children more than any other advanced country. >> if a child goes home to a parent with low literacy skills, they're not going to get support. it's pretty tough to do

education reform without the support from home. >> next year, the g.e.d. exam will become more difficult, upgraded to better gauge the career skills needed in today's job market. >> all of these reports out of manufacturing, they bemoan that people don't have enough higher level critical thinking and problem-solving skills. those are two things really built into the content for the new g.e.d. test. it is pretty different than what we've been offering before. >> for the first time, students will have to take it by computer, another challenge especially for many older applicants. alexis is are you sure to go get her degree before this year is out. >> starting january, it will be a lot harder, you will have to pay more money and i'm really not good as math. i'm scared if i fail it again, i'll be taking everything all over again. >> the most g.e.d. test takers plan on college, only 12% have actually gone to know earn a higher degree, so some worry the

upgraded exam will only lead to disappointment. >> now the bar is being raised again to another level for seamless college transition. that's not there and not likely to get there. >> for those who do, the odds of getting ahead in a tough economy may be much better. aljazeera washington. >> in washington, the number is 20%, one in five don't have a diploma, one in three cannot read a newspaper or even a map. >> that's it for this edition of aljazeera america. more headlines in two and a half minutes and you can check us out 24 hours a day just by going to aljazeera.com, no, sir 24/7.