another deadly attack in russia, an explosion killed 14 on a trolley bus in volgograd one day after 17 were killed in a blast at a train station in the same city. hitting a healthcare milestone and 1 million people have signed up for obamacare and insurance is set to kick in for americans in the new year. stranded in the ice, a russian ship trapped in frozen seas off the coast of antarctica and rescue is almost impossible. ground breaking pilot, women who flew critical missions during world war ii. ♪

welcome to al jazeera america, i'm stephanie and there has been a bombing in the russian city of volgograd and 14 people were killed overnight on an attack on a trolley bus. the blast comes just one day after 18 people were killed in a suicide bombing at a train station in the same city. the city has one million people and 600 miles south of moscow and 400 miles north of sochi where the winter olympics will be held in six week, the third fat fatal attack in since months and stands with russia against terrorism and peter sharp is in moscow on the latest on the train station bombing. >> reporter: the aftermath of the attack in a railroad station in volgograd and a body on the ground as emergency services

scramble to treat survivors and a woman set off explosives at the entrance to the main station and the blast captured on camera and it was packed with people leaving on christmas holidays. >> translator: everything was covered in smoke and after ten minutes i could see again and there were bodies everywhere and in the train station itself everything was destroyed. >> reporter: it killed and injured dozens of people. >> translator: according to preliminary information the power of this explosion was the equivalent of ten kilograms of tnt and would have been more victims if it were not for the guarding system at the train station and prevented the suicide bomber from getting through the metal detector and in the hall and there were lots of people because three trains were late. in the same southern city in october 7 died in a bombing on a bus and it raises serious security concerns ahead of

february olympics of sochi which is 400 kilometers from chetchen and president putin offered support to families that were killed in the attack and security at the winter olympics will continue to be an overriding concern for the kremlin. it's already deployed more than 30,000 troops and security personnel into the region in an attempt to lock down these winter olympics. in an internet video earlier this year the leader of russian's rebels urged supporters to use force to disrupt the sochi game and cancelling the attacks inside russia and warned of new violence. his group claimed responsibility for attacks including the 2010 moscow attack that killed 40 and

a car bomb killed people in the southern russian city and they continue to claim lives and they may be wondering where the next attack will come, peter sharp, al jazeera in moscow. >> reporter: in light of the latest bombing the president putin ordered the counter terrorism agency to increase security nationwide. for nearly 20 years russia has been fighting this in the north caucus and including chetchen as well as the olympic host city sochi and there have been 15 attacks in russia, many of them involving chetchen fighters and attacks kills 1300 people including hundreds of children and we report on the history of violence in the region. violence is no stranger to vladimir putin and stems from decades of conflict, in 1999 the army invaded chetchen under an antiterrorist operation.

the conflict that followed lasted nine years. 50,000 civilians died along with 5,000 russians. in 2001 a pro-moscow regime was installed, the conflict officially declared over but separatist group spread through the caucus and it's the center of an islamist group. >> and before large federal events and sochi olympics is the biggest of all has attacks and they want to remind kremlin they are here and a force to be recommended with. >> reporter: and war lords called on militants to strike russia and prevent them from staging the sochi games. >> the maximum impact is to pull off an attack like this in the russian capitol but moscow is a much more difficult city to penetrate than volgograd so here you have a combination of a city

that is relatively sizable, and volgograd is a big city and close to the caucuses and it has to be that much easier to get into than moscow. >> reporter: much easier than the winter olympics themselves an as the security of sochi is 60 miles on black sea and 30 miles inland and monitoring traffic in and out of the city but russians outside of the zone may not be getting the same level of protection. and i'm with al jazeera. >> reporter: the winter olympics in sochi begin february 7th. across russia's border protests and neighboring ukraine got personal for the president and marched to the president's home on sunday. they called for his resignation and carried a coffin to symbolize what they hope is the end of his political career and they blocked the road to the president's house and the demonstration was peaceful and thousands gathered in the independent square outraged of

the beating of a reporter who had a lavish lifestyle. a presidential election might take place before voting for parliament. a transitional plan unveiled in july called for parliamentary elections to be held first and critics suggest changing the ore der of elections would give the new president more control over who gets elected in parliament. egypt has seen attacks over the past week after they said the muslim brotherhood was a terrorist organization and a bomb exploded north of cairo on sunday. they arrested al jazeera reporting team in cairo and peter, producers and the cameraman were all picked up from their home and hotel and now held in custody. all are experienced journalists and al jazeera demanded its

staff be released immediately. parts of the midwest see a drastic drop in temperatures. for more on the national forecast let's bring in nicole mitchell. >> record high temperatures in the 40s and the front came through and the bottom dropped out. not a lot of moisture today but in the plains and moisture along the gulf, a lot of the big part has cleared off the east coast but so just the minimal chance for snow in the northern tier. the front has gone through. this will be bringing cooler air to the northeast as well. well into the south. i'll have a little bit more on those specific temperatures coming up, in just a couple of minutes. look at some temperatures, minneapolis minus 11, the high temperature on saturday was 47 above. so from saturday afternoon to

this morning monday morning almost a 60-degree temperature drop as this area came through. now with a little bit of the westerly wind today at least places like rapid city have recovered some back in the 20s. but how is this going to impact your holiday? of course we have another one just around the corner, as we get out maybe for boston, 28 is the high for wednesday on a holiday itself. we will see new york city high of 30 but watching the ball drop about 25 degrees out there and looks like the east coast will have sunny skies and that cooperates with all the people trying to get out there. as we mentioned the temperatures have certainly gotten cooler and some of that air is spreading into the northeast over the next couple of days and it will be spreading southward as well and i will tell you how cold the temperatures will be today in a couple minutes and back to you. >> reporter: damaging new accusations are being levelled at the national security agency. the german magazine dare spiegel says nsa has a highly skilled

hacking team that specializes in quote getting the ungetable, the team is known as taylored access operation and the high-tech spies intercept computers and vulnerabilities and hijacked microsoft's internal reporting system to spy on targets. it's believed it is based on documents leaked by edward snowden and since he exposed the government's spying program the world has been debating whether he is a hero or a traitor. former national security director michael hayden told the "face the nation" is his opinion of snowden has changed for the worst. >> i used to say he was a defector and there is a history of defection to moscow and part of the stream. i'm drifting now with more harsh language. >> reporter: such as? >> such as traitor. >> reporter: based on what.

>> in two weeks to german and brazilian government he offered to reveal more american secrets to the governments in return for something and the return was for asylum. >> reporter: and he was on "meet the press" and says the government's charges against snowden do not allow for a proper legal defense. >> the law under which mr. snowden is charged, the 1917 espionage act a world war i statute does not talk about leaks to the press and public interest and we can agree some of the information has been in the public interest and someone who sells secrets to an enemy for a profit and we argued in legal cases that it's actually a worse violation of the law to leak to the press than sell it to an enemy because all enemies get to see it and it's true and america gets to see it and it's important. >> he took an oath not to disclose that.

>> he signed the same standard classification agreement that everybody else signed but his oath was to the constitution. if he was allowed for a public interest defense and if the law said look at the good this has done and allowed him to say the government has not been able to prove harm from disclosure, he would face trial in the system but for now he doesn't believe and i done believe that the cost of his act of conscious should be a life behind bars. >> reporter: he has been in russia since june and he has been granted asylum for one year. affordable care act has has a milestone and one million americans have enrolled this month after significant issues with the website healthcare.gov were ironed out. the total is far short of the 3.3 million enrolelys they predibed by january 1st and brian moore has more on enrollment numbers, good

morning. >> good morning and obamacare is the law of the land and, no, the fight over it is not over. congress is looking forward to a new year but digging in for familiar fights over obama care. >> so the damage that obamacare has done and will do on january 1, 2 and 3 will have to be dealt with as part of any reform. >> reporter: at this car dealership in michigan employees found out insurance has been cancelled because it doesn't comply. >> how is this helping people working 40, 50 hours a week, how are we supposed to live. >> reporter: deductibles are nearly tripling and can hit $12000 for a family. >> we don't make that much money to begin with and the prescriptions are going to kill me. >> reporter: supporters of obamacare are focusing on the positive, large numbers of people are able to purchase health insurance for the first time and the troubled healthcare.gov website is finally working. on christmas eve and the day just before that there were about a million people that were

either on the website or made a phone call to enroll. >> reporter: counting state-run exchanges about two million people purchased insurance and short of 7 million they hope to have signed up by march. and the white house is hoping to go on offensive in the coming month with success stories. >> reporter: cracking down on the mean streets of brazil slums and some high-crime areas are feeling the heat from police. and trapped by ice, ten feet thick, attempting to rescue a research team stuck in the frozen landscape of antarctica and world war ii heros, one of the military's first female pilots talks about her unit known as a wasp. nfl and playing in winner go home scenarios and we have that later on in sports.

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good morning and welcome back to al jazeera america, i'm stephanie sy, ahead, tracking down on crime in some of brazil's toughest neighborhoods and some say the long neglected areas are getting much-needed attention from authorities there but first the temperatures across the nation and the metrologist nicole mitchell is back. >> as we start out this monday we will see definitely the cold air has taken hold and the negatives in portions of the midwest and we were just talking about how below zero it is and wind to the region and fargo minus 20 and hoping the car starts if you did not have it plugged in to keep the battery safe. it will go to the south and minneapolis may be above zero at 6 today. spreading to the south we have seen some of the dividing line of the colder air. this afternoon memphis 38,

shreport and 74 orlando. headed to disney world for the fami family vacation great day. new york 36 degrees and the other warm spot is la at 70 for tomorrow and new year's eve day. >> reporter: thousands of people are evacuating their homes in elbow -- el salvador and a volcano and several treated for breathing problems and it's more than 7,000 feet tall and the last, eruption was 30 years ago. before the world cup kids off in rio they are trying to cleanup shanty towns known as brazilas in brazil and this began five

years ago where critics said the success has come at a great cost and we are live from rio. gabrielle i happened to have been in rio just last week and they are sprawling from the outside and you have gotten a look at the inside and you were there in 2010, what improvements have you seen? >> that's right, i'm joining you here and this is one of the biggest pavillas in all of rio, it's actually 14 different complexes and over 100,000 people live here. just three years ago this was completely controlled by drug traffickers and it's not any more. i would not be able to stand where i am now broadcasting to you three years ago. there have been a lot of changes here primarily there is a complete police presence here now and that is what the rio officials have been wanting.

and that has been this big drive on this pacification program is retake the areas under complete control of traffickers and put police here and sort of put a presence of the state and we have seen that and schools built in the last school years and a gym and most importantly police are patrolling here 24 hours a day, seven days a week. >> are people generally happy with the police presence there? >> it depends who you ask. most people will say more or less. a lot of people say that they do appreciate having the police presence. they say that they feel as though their communities, where they live and slums have more value as one resident told me but there are lots of problems with corruption. there is still problems of crime here. and so it's very much a wait and see attitude for a lot of these residents, many of whom who

lived in here 20, 30 years or more and let's remember this pacification program is five years old now and still needs time to develop. there have been high-profile cases just this year as a matter of fact of some police allegedly killing some residents in one other pavilla and a lot of problems that need to be dealt with. residents here say they appreciate it more or less, but they will wait and see as the months and years go on. >> reporter: is all of this pacification program just being done because the world cup is coming this year and the olympics are coming in 2016, is that the only reason that the problems in the pavillas are being addressed? >> well, the brazilian government and especially the local officials here would answer that with a resounding, no. they say this is being done for people that live in rio, for brazilians that needed to be done a long time ago.

they say this doesn't have anything to do directly with the world cup or the tourists or the 600,000 tourists expected to come for the world cup next year. however, there are 1,000 pavillas in rio and 40 pacified and almost all of them, and this is exception and they are near tourist zones and being done for tourists or the world cup but the city says absolutely that is not the case whatsoever. they claim that they simply were just started with the areas, the pavillas near tourist areas but plan to expand this all over the city. they are planning to install as many as six more pacification police units next year alone. >> reporter: gabrielle reporting for rioi thank you,

nfl season is over and jessica is here to tell us more. >> the cowboys eagles and the story lines were limitless and kyle making the first start in two years in the biggest game of the season for dallas after two days after momo had back surgery and a new coach jim kellie and a year ago were 4-12. so quarterback nick who began the season as a backup as well. a lot of story lines and eagles up first and goal and bryce brown has a 6-yard touchdown with a 24-16 lead and cowboys answer and kyle finds brian and breaks a tackle and he is gone in the open field. gets the end zone for 32-yard score and dallas for 2 but not able to convert so 24-22 with under two minutes to go and

horton had dallas from field goal range and through it behind him and brandon with the pick and eagles take nfc east and headed to the playoffs, for dallas this is the third straight is season and jerry jones lost to a division rival and rogers back in action for the first time in a month after the broken collar bone and this is time against the bears and check it out, aaron gets the touchdown with 46 seconds left of the game and gets the touchdown. last chance for jake cutler and company. going for the hail mary. and this one not going to happen. game over. bears trailing in that and jay cutler probably the last game you will see him in a bears uniform as green bay moves on 33-28 and they beat chicago. this is the playoff standings in nfc and seahawks with home

advantage as the number one seed and the carolina panthers will have home field advantage for at least one game and philadelphia and green bay have 3 and 4 seed respectively and san francisco and new orleans land the two wild card spots. match-ups when this kicks off next weekend and the wild card will have the eagles and saints saturday, a night game at 8:00 p.m. and packers host the nfc, 49ers at 4:30. the chargers needing the stars to align to get in the playoffs yesterday and they did. taking on the chiefs, picking up in over time, san diego had faked the punt and takes it up the middle and the ball gray has it and gets a score. hold up, ref is a full word action and chargers get to keep the ball and would eventually get a field goal instead and

that was 14-15 and chiefs in the final and daniel picking the pocket. chargers win 27-24. and they sneak in the playoffs. here is a look at afc pictures and how it plays off and denver broncos and home field advantage with number one seed with patriots number two. cincinnati gets the third seed over indianapolis because they beat the colts earlier in the season and as this gets underway next weekend the colts will have the chiefs at 4:00 p.m. eastern and charges at 1:00 and of course everyone is gunning for a spot in the superbowl which is set for february 2nd and stephanie that is right here in new york at met life stadium and a lot of stuff going on. >> so much football, so little time and thanks so much. following two deadly suicide bombers questions are raised about the safety of the up

coming olympics in sochi. a deadline is looming to remove a brain dead teenager for support and the parents are trying not to get the plug pulled. airforce pilot's who took place during world war ii. ♪ 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. the stream is uniquely interactive television. we depend on you, >> you are one of the voices of this show. >> so join the conversation and make it your own. >> the stream. weeknights 7:30 et / 4:30 pt on al jazeera america and join the conversation online @ajamstream. on august 20th, al jazeera america introduced a new voice in journalism. >> good evening everyone, welcome to al jazeera. >> usa today says:

>> ...writes the columbia journalism review. and the daily beast says: >> quality journalists once again on the air is a beautiful thing to behold. >> al jazeera america, there's more to it. ♪ welcome back to al jazeera america, i'm stephanie sy. there has been another deadly explosion in the southern russian city of volgograd and at least 14 people were killed today on an attack on a trolley bus and comes one day after 18 people were killed on a suicide bombing in the same city on sunday. russian president putin stepped up security across the country

since the attacks and a christian monitor joins us, fred and two bomb ings in 24 hours and what are they saying about the attack, are they linked? >> they are linked and the fear among security experts that one talks to is that we are looking at a concerted, organized assault which is aimed at disrupting or perhaps even derailing the up coming sochi olympic games. >> reporter: why volgograd, it's 400 miles north of sochi and 400 miles south of moscow and not close to the obvious targets and why this city? >> there are two theories about that. one is that both sochi and moscow are -- have been rendered involatile by massive security

presence. i mean sochi is effectively a garison city and over 40,000 special police in it and all kinds of high-tech surveillance and protection. downtown moscow is pretty much locked down. so it could be that terrorists are looking for softer targets. and russia is a big, sprawling country. you know, with lots and lots of open spaces and open places. it's very, very hard to protect the whole country. and the other theory, a little more chilling, is that these attacks in volgograd are diversionary. they are aimed at solely uncertainty and diverting resources in some big planned attack.

nobody knows at this point but it's certain that russian security and officials are reacting in nearly a frantic way about this. we are looking at quite probably a wave of these attacks in the weeks to come. >> reporter: there was some warning, i mean about these specific attacks but certainly in the last few years we heard the possibility that the sochi olympics could be targeted or a lead up to it and is it something they could have expected if not particularly prepared for? >> reporter: it was very much expected and not new to russia for the last decade in a half and had waves of terror attacks and all originating and it's in russia and no border controls and you cannot build firewalls

from the rest of russia. and these waves of attacks have gone in cycles. we had them ten years ago. we had them the last time about 7 or 8 years ago but yes everybody certainly expected the sochi olympics being such a high-profile event which vladimir putin had russia prestige were going to be targeted. >> reporter: all right fred weere from moscow and for more of this and how it may go with the olympics and no one has claimed responsibility for these two attacks but chetchen rebels have been tied so such attacks in the past. are you seeing hallmarks of a certain group in these two bombings? >> you correctly point out there have been calls by some

chetchen, by some caucasian leaders in north caucuses who is associated with a group called chetchen emerites, caucasian emerites and called for disruption of the games using methods like these. this is a clear focus of investigation and no one stepped forward and claimed responsibility for this. but obviously the authorities are looking at that group and others. >> reporter: let's look at what doco-this chetchen rebel leader and over the summer he said satanic dances on the bones of our ancestors and describing the olympic games. what did he mean by that? >> referring to the fact some of the territory down to the black sea coast was originally in the hands of the caucasian groups and islamic peoples inhabited

the areas and later moved out and they claim this as their incester land and the idea the games are taking place with this ancestor land is unacceptable. >> under a russian flag. >> yes. >> reporter: do you have thoughts on why this particular city, volgograd which is hundreds of miles away from sochi would be targeted? >> gate way between russia proper and caucuses and the rail hub and as fred was indicating they are looking for soft targets. it's hard to do anything in sochi. the russians say the safest games ever but in sochi. >> reporter: it's in the caucus and in the region, are you concerned about its proximity? >> sure, it's nearby and it's on the black sea coast and it's but it is heavily fortified because of russian security presence so

they will have the safest games in history and maybe they will, let's hope they do. >> reporter: tourists just don't go to sochi and go to moscow and visit the cities around the games as well. >> that is part of the problem and people will do that and makes sense to do it and they will look to shit soft targets between sochi and moscow so it's a little bit different situations. >> reporter: and thank you for joining us with the insight this morning. and vowing violence in south sudan has returned home. the group known as the white army is no longer planning what he calls a vicious military confrontation and it's made up of nearly 25,000 people who are loyal to the vice president and accuses him of attempting a coup against the president and hundreds have been killed and thousands forced to flee there

in resent weeks. new ganda has had a civil war and joseph kony obducted children and forced them to fight and ended in 2006 but malcolm web says many are struggling to move on. >> this pair of boots is all that remains of a sunday, his father said he will never for get the day when his son was abducted from the army in 1997 when he was just 12 years old. the rebels abducted children and mutilating people and christopher is trying to accept what probably is true. >> come back. if you are coming back, i would be very grateful. very grateful.

but now i don't think, yeah. >> reporter: christopher's wife was so upset at the loss of their only child that she killed herself and now he lives alone with only his chickens for company and says he is waiting for god to take him away. he is one of thousands in northern uganda whose children went missing during the civil war. but he says things got easier when he joined a counseling group with people with missing relatives organized by the red cross. ♪ here several groups have come together to come together to hold a memorial ceremony and there is no record, there is no comprehensive list of names or numbers and many people are poor and very few have family photos or other memorabilia and the red cross about 12000 went missing

and never came back and nra are small and across neighboring countries and very few of 12000 will come home and people gathered here today and come to terms with this and begin the process of moving forward. they take turns to say the names of those who never came home. the memories are painful. >> and not knowing what happened with a person that is in your family like a son or a daughter is something that for those who do not live it it's difficult to understand and now they have somebody who understands them and went through the same and together they can find a way forward. ♪ most of these people never buried or even saw the bodies of their loved ones, something that is important in the culture here. it didn't have any kind of

closure until now. ♪ and while the counseling, all the ceremony won't bring anyone back, it can start to ease some of the grief. malcolm web, northern uganda. >> the army obducted more than 30,000 children to fight as soldiers in the civil war. the u.n. says it's unlikely that tuesday's deadline for removing chemical weapons from syria will be met. the news comes as government forces continue a force on slot in aleppo and said security concerns and bad weather led to delay. according to an international agreement the government has until 2014 to destroy them. in the city of aleppo said 20 were killed after planes dropped barrels full of explosives at

civilians at a vegetable market and the death toll is 517 since government bombings began there two weeks ago. promising news for syrian refugees in the kurdish regions and encouraging people to find jobs in local regions because they can speak arabic and kurdish. >> translator: iraq is a good country where refugees can find jobs especially arabic and they know the dilemma of refugees, i'm happy to work in this restaurant where all people respect us and prepare all things for us. >> reporter: more than 2 million syrians fled to neighboring countries because of the on going civil war and 210,000 are living in irey iraq. they are bolstering the lebanon

army and the largest grant given to forces and they have grappling with violence stemming from the civil war and allow them to purchase french weapons and the president is also pledging support. this is what is making news in financial news in the business market, wall street is building and it's higher and it stalled on friday. the dow kicks off at 16478. index is up nearly 26% in 2013. s&p stands at 1841 and up 29% for the year and nasdaq 1456 and says stock have a rosy future. >> everything is working perfectly, the way it's supposed to. and the next two trading days and the rest of the year, no one can predict that and we have no idea what will happen but there is no reason to believe anything will change and should sea stock prices rise into 2014. >> reporter: in europe markets

are slightly lower and asia ended higher and jumping .7 to a 6-year high and rising 57% in 2013 and the best year since 1972. the housing market and realtor's have the pending home index for november this morning, the index is inspected to show a small bounce after five months of decli decli decline. long-term unemployment benefits expired on saturday after congress failed to pass an extension and 4 million people are out of work for more than 27 weeks. most states provide unemployment benefits for 26 weeks. the minimum wage is going um in 13 states this week. starting january 1st workers in new york, new jersey and connecticut will see an increase in their paychecks. analysts predict most states

could exceed the federal minimum wage of $7.25 by the end of 2014. the economic policy institute estimates the increases will boost wages of 2.5 million workers next year and raising this will say fewer jobs. and they are talking about a 14-year-old girl declared brain dead and fighting a california hospital to keep her on a ventilator but time may be running out and erica has the latest and this is just a sad situation no matter how you cut it. >> absolutely, it's a sad situation. the family attorney would not provide the name in new york for fear it would cost their chances of transferring her and not willing to take the risk because they believe it could be her last hope and time is ticking. the hospital planning to disconnect her ventilator at 5:00 today. >> we declare her brain live. >> reporter: family and friends prayed outside of children's

hospital on oakland on sunday as time ticks down to the moment on monday when she is disconnected from her ventilator, the 13-year-old california girl was declared brain dead nearly three weeks ago after suffering cardiac arrest after a tonsilectomy and they got a judge to delay the ventilator disconnection but time is running out and found two nursing homes that stepped up to take her in and tried to revive her but then both backed out. the family is desperate to get anyone to help their cause because in this mother's eyes since her daughter's heart is still beating she is still alive. >> god going to make another way for us. she is making little movements and you know she is still getting prayed for. >> reporter: her stepfather holds out hope that some facility somewhere will help.

>> there is a place in new york. >> reporter: officials with children's hospital say there is no such place and no such hope. >> there is unfortunately no amount of hope, no amount of prayer that can bring her back. i think everybody in this hospital everybody in community, all the friends in the family and the family are all grieving because this is an irreversible and very sad situation. >> reporter: and the sad reality comes later today. >> and when 5:00 comes around, the ventilator will be removed. >> reporter: those soft spoken his words were hard and fast, the ventilator will be removed who has been using it to breathe since december 9th. >> and this needs to occur and everyone pay respects and to move on. >> reporter: moving on is not going to be easy for the family especially when strangers around the world continue to support their fight for life. >> thanks to everybody out there that has been sending their

prays and sending cards and letters she read every last one of them and that give her strength to keep going even further. >> reporter: the mother say people sent dozens of christmas gifts to her and put them under the tree because she believes one day her daughter will be well enough to open them. as for disconnection time scheduled for today at 5:00 it can be delayed again if the family files an appeal in court. there have been three different doctors that determined that she is brain dead and what keeps this family going? >> it's a tough one here. her mother said she has actual has seen more body movements over the past three weeks they have been with her every single day and plus they say they have seen in her ventilator settings that there are signs that she actually may be breathing on her own at some points so that is what keeps them fighting >> hard to argue with a

mother's instinct and thank you so much. the rose bowl is honoring the veterans who took to the skies in world war ii. frozen in the ocean, a russian ship stuck in the ice near antarctica. >> that is what the midwest is feeling and we have snow and i'll have the details coming up. ♪

♪ welcome back to al jazeera america, just ahead stranded in frozen seas, a race to rescue dozens of people on a boat trapped in thick ice near antarctica but first the snow and the rainfall across the country and metrologist nicole mitchell is back. >> after all the problems yesterday including moisture through the east coast caused flight delays and people trying to get home from the holiday week from christmas and cleared out significantly for today. a couple areas, one a disturbance coming through the northern plain and 1-3" and south texas dealing with that.

looking closer and not only what is coming in the dakotas but we had a little bit and you can pick it out with the wind flow lake effects and picking up and a little bit of snow in the range but most will be in the northern tier across the country and the little bit of rain for south texas this morning. cold temperatures is a bigger story and more on that coming up. >> reporter: speaking of cold rescuers are trying to free a research ship trapped for nearly a week. two attempts to reach the vow l el vessel and what was supposed to be a scientific expedition left passengers stranded at sea since christmas eve and 74 people including a team of researchers are stuck off the antarctica coast 100 miles east of a french research station and

left new zealnad with the 100th journey led by explorer douglas mossen and last week it went terribly wrong and the ship sent a satellite distress center after the vessel was trapped in ice and it has failed to free it and a breaker came within 6 nautical miles but could not reach it. another breaker from france could not make it to the edge of the ice and hoping another ice breaking ship located 100 miles away can free them. >> making way but very slowly, due to the ice as well as weather conditions. snow showers at the moment and very power visibility out there. >> reporter: despite being stuck in 13 miles of ice nearly

10 feet ship, it's not in danger of sinking and he said even though they are at a frozen stand still the 74 researchers and crew say they are doing fine and morale is high. >> it sounds a lot worse than it is. everyone else is safe and sound and very comfortable down below deck where they are having a cup of tea or coffee and we have enough food and water and we are warm and plenty of fuel on board. and this is two weeks of fresh food. >> reporter: if the ice breaker is unsuccessful the next attempt will involve using a helicopter from the ship snow dragon which is still in the area and i'm with al jazeera. >> reporter: this kinds of thick ice is a common problem for ships going through the area where temperatures can dip down to negative 100 degrees fahrenheit. on new year's day the 125th

annual rose bowl parade will honor a group of women and the first to fly planes during world war ii and bryan rooney sat down with one of the women known as wasps. >> reporter: her hands not as steady and her eyes not as sharp but in her heart she is still a pilot, it's what she always wanted to be. >> i used to tell my father that is what i wanted to do and he would always say not something girls usually do but find out more power to you and never discouraged by him. >> reporter: not much hope for a woman who wanted to fly until the attack on pearl harbor and she saw an ad for pilots and went for training in texas. >> i was real excited because i was going to get to fly and we could see the airplanes sitting on the field. >> reporter: it was forming the women airforce pilots, wasps and

had bombers and fighter and flew trans port and when they started it was a man's world and even the flight suits were for men. >> you picked one out and they were too long in the legs and too big in the middle and did what you needed to do and wore them. >> reporter: the training was difficult. >> one of the things we had to do before we could solo, they would blind fold us and get, name an instrument and you had to touch it and tell what it read and what you would do if it malfunctioned and why it was important it was in the airplane. >> reporter: it turned out women could fly. she learned on the 86 trainer. >> i did the wheels and the spins and i did everything i can think of that we had been taught to do and it was just a beautiful airplane to do it. >> reporter: she ended up as a transport pilot and dragging a

target in live fire exercises. >> never occurred to me it was dangerous. >> reporter: it was dangerous and 1,000 women who were pilots 38 died in accidents and after the war she had a family and never flew again but new year's day on the float commemorating the wasps she will be in parade dress. >> i will wear my wings, they will be on and i will wear my star so to me those two things say this is who i am. >> reporter: this is her moment, the moment of recognition for her, for 7 other women who will ride in the rose parade and all the wasps who are gone now. >> this is a big deal to me and i think the appreciation that people need to know that we were there, i'm living proof of that. that women did fly in the war. >> reporter: new year's day she will be flying high once more. bryan rooney pasadena, california. >> the they do deserve a parade.

the women who were airforce pilots in world war ii flew over 60 million miles in every type of military aircraft, this is what we are following, 14 people have been killed in the bombing of a trolley bus in russian and happened in the same city where a suicide bomber attacked a train station on sunday. the white house says more than one million americans have signed up for the affordable care act and they will miss the deadline to remove the syria weapons. i'm metrologist nicole mitchell and frigid temperatures is gripping the country and what does that mean for the up coming new year's holiday. >> and the news continues in just 2 1/2 minutes. ♪

>> another deadly attack in russia, an explosion killed 15 on a trollly bus just one day after 17 people were killed in a blast at a train station in the same city. >> hitting a health care mile tone, more than 1 million people have now signed up for obamacare. insurance is set to kick in for many americans with the new year. >> stranded in the ice, a russian ship trapped off the coast of antarctica and rescue efforts nearly impossible. >> honoring groundbreaking pilots, women who flew critical missions during world war ii.

>> welcome to aljazeera america, i'm stephanie sy. russian president vladimir putin issued a series of new measures to russia's antthe i terrorism campaign after 14 were killed in an attack overnight on a really bus one day after 18 people were killed in a suicide bombing at a train station in that same city. the city of 1 million is about 600-miles south of moscow and 400 miles north of sochi where the winter olympics will be held. this is the third fatal attack in the city. the u.s. is condemning the attack, saying it stands with russia against terrorism. >> the aftermath of the attack on a railway station, a body

lice on the ground as emergency services tram bell to treat survivors. police say a woman set off explosioniveses at the entrance of the main train station, the blast captured on camera. the station was packed with people leaving on their christmas holidays. >> everything was covered in smoke. there were bodies everywhere. inside the train station itself, everything is destroyed. >> inevitably, the attack killed and injuries dozens of people. >> it was the equivalent of 10 kilograms of tmt. there were had been more killed but the system prevented the suicide bomber from getting into the waiting hold where there were lots of people, because three trains were late. >> in the same southern city in

october, people died in a bombing on a bus. the latest killings raise serious security concerns ahead of february's winter olympics in sochi, just 400 kilometers from the troubled re pubs of check knee i can't and dagestan. >> security at the winter olympics will continue to be an overriding concern for the kremlin. it's already employed 30,000 troops and security personnel into the region in an attempt to lockdown these winter olympics. >> in an internet video earlier this year, leader of russia's muslim separatist rebels urged his supporters to use maximum force to disrupt the sochi games. he was canceling what he said his moratoriums on attacks in russia and warned of new violence. his group claimed responsibility for attacks including the 2010

moscow underground attack killing 40 people. just two days ago, a car bomb killed three people in the southern russia city. as the violence continues to claim lives, ordinary russians may be wondering where the next attack will come. aljazeera in moscow. >> security has been tightened at railway stations and on its across russia. >> for nearly 20 years, russia has been fighting an insurgency in the north caucuses, including check knee i can't and dagestan as well as sochi. >> we he report on the violence and potential impact on the olympics. >> violence is no stranger to vladimir putin's russia. it stems from decades of conflict.

chechnya was invaded under putin's order of anti terrorism. the conflict that followed lasted nine years. 50,000 civilians died, along with 5,000 russians. in 2001, a pro moscow radio regime was installed. the conflict officially declared over. but separatist groups spread through the northern caucuses, a region that is still the center of an islamist insurgency. >> there is a pattern emerging, that is before certain large federal events and certainly the sochi olympics is the biggest of them all, there have been niece sorts of attacks. i think what they want to do first and foremost is remind the kremlin that they are here and are a force to be reckoned with. >> chechnyaen warlords are reminding they are there. >> moscow is a much more difficult city to penetrate than

volgograd. it's close to the caucus us and easier to get into than moscow. moscow. >> security aren't sochi extends 60 miles along the coast and 30 miles inland. traffic is monitored in and out of the city. russians outside that zone may not be getting the same level of protection. aljazeera. >> the winter olympics in sochi begins february 7. across russia's border, protests in neighboring ukraine got personal for its president. demonstrators marched on his home on sunday. they called for his resignation and carried a coffin to symbolize what they hope is the end of his political career. even with hundreds of riot police blocking the road to the president's house, the dental mon station was peatful.

a reporter reported on the larish lifestyles of the president and his officials and was beaten. >> control of the state television headquarters had government officials saying 34 attackers have now been killed and government troops retaken control of the television station. congo struggled for the past couple of decades of violence and instability. much of the fighting there is for an area rich with mineral. more than 20,000 u.n. peace creeping troops are on the ground in congo. >> the main route carrying there is from pakistan to afghanistan have been blocked for a month. activists are protesting american drone strikes, targeting alleged terrorists in pakistan. the on going blockade could affect u.s. aid.

>> they've been here since november 22, stopping trucks. he has been here every day since the blockade started. >> our protests will continue until the drone attacks have been stopped. a lot of innocent people have been killed, therefore the protests will go and we will not stop until the drone attacks have been stopped by the americans. >> drone strikes are deeply unpopular in pakistan. the government routinely condemns each attack as a violation of nothing sovereignty but is believed to give approval to some strikes. whatever the case, the prime minister does not support these protests. >> the government has been largely silent about the blockade, but there is no doubt there is concern the automatic congress recently passed a bill which could see pakistan receive more than $1.5 billion in cash, but it's link said to the movement of these supply lines

and if that's stopped, so, too, could be the payments. >> but it's not justify the government that's concerned. kahn said since the blockade started, he's barely able to keep his business running. >> this rod used to be be packed with trucks, now there are none and those that do come through here don't stop for food. that if the blockade continues, i'll to have close my restaurant, because i won't be ail to meet my expenses. >> not all supply lines are blocked. a route through the eastern province remains open and goods can be moved through central asia. still, this is the busiest and most important passage used to supply nato forces and move military hardware out of afghanistan. the longer it stays closed, the more complicated it becomes for partners to withdraw it's combat troops ahead of next year's

deadline. >> the nato supply route has been closed in the pass, blocked for seven months in 2011 after u.s. air strikes accidentally killed two dozen soldiers on the afghan border. pakistan reopened the route after the u.s. apologized. >> egypts interim leader said a presidential election may take place before voting for parliament. a plan called for parliamentary elections to be held first. some suggest changing little order of the elections would give the new president more control over who gets elected in parliament. egypt has seen a series of attacks over the past week after the government designated the muslim brotherhood a terrorist organization. a bomb exploded outside an egyptian army building north of cairo on sunday. >> egyptian security forces have arrested aljazeera's reporting team in cairo. correspondent, producers as well as a cameraman were all picked

up from their homes and hotel and now held in custody. all are experienced journalists who have worked for multi-international media groups over the decades. aljazeera has demanded its staff be released immediately. >> a major boost to lebanon's army from saudi arabia. the kingdom has pledged $3 billion to lebanese forces, lebanon's president says it is the largest grant ever for the army. the country has been grappling with as he can tarery violence stemming from syria's civil war. the funds will allow french weapons to be purchased. that france's president is also pledging support. >> >> what i know is france has equipped the lebanese army for a while and we will answer any solicitation because lebanon must remain united and integrity respected, its security must be protected for all the lebanese. >> lebanon is still rebuilding after its own 15 year civil war.

>> parts of the mid we have are seeing a drastic drop in temperatures. for more, let's bring in nicole mitchell. good morning. >> good morning. it's almost worst when it's been cold and you get the taste of the warmth and plum melted back into the cold again, because then you know what you're missing. here are temperature changes. we have a little bit of a we really flow, some down flow, so temperatures are going up in rapid city. a lot of the midwest, chicago, 35-degree drop since 24 hours ago at this time, that's over a degree an hour, if you average everything out. minneapolis, a 20-degree drop that since yesterday at this time, but if you take into account that saturday set a record at 47 degrees and in and out temperature is minus 10, that means almost a 60-degree drop just over the period of two days, so you really feel that besides the fact that it's just cold at minus 10. that taste of warmth makes it

worse. all this cold air has been spreading southward and eastward. we are going to see temperatures consistently drop. for the east coast, it's not at dramatic, maybe 10 degrees and southward, temperatures running blow average, as well. it's pretty quiet other than are that, a lot of the moisture cleared out, snow in parts of the midwest, maybe showers in the southern part of texas for today. how about the holiday forecast. a lot of people will be heading out new year's eve. it's not fun to get stuck in the snow. this area dips just a little, but a lot of the country will stay quiet. what if you're watching something drop? not every place does a drop. pennsylvania is the state that has the most city that is do some sort of a drop, but nashville, 53 is the high for new year's day there. they drop a guitar, very appropriately. >> didn't know that. damaging new accusations leveled in the national security agency.

the german magazine says the n.s.a. has a highly skilled hacking team that specializes in getting the ungettable. the team is known as tailored access operations. the high tech spies intercept computer chefs, exploit hardware vulnerables and have highjacked microsofts inner reporting systems to spy on their targets, edward snowden exposed the practice. >> former national security director michael hayden told "face the nation" that piss opinion of snowden has changed for the worst. >> i used to say he was a defector and there's a history of defection to moscow. i'm drifting in the direction of perhaps more harsh language. >> such as? >> such as traitor. >> based on what?

>> in the past two weeks in open waters to the german and brazilian government, he has offered to reveal more american secrets to those governments in return for something, and in return was for asylum. >> know deb's legal advisor appeared on "meet the press" saying the government's charges don't allow for proper legal defense. >> the law under which mr. snowden is charged, the 1917 world war era statute doesn't distinguish whether it is in the public interest. someone who sells secrets to an enemy for personal profit. it has been argued in legal cases that it's a worse violation of the law to leak to the press than tell it to enemies, because all enemies get to see it. the public gets to see it. >> he took an oath not to

release information. >> that's not true. he signed the standard classification agreement that everybody else signs but his oath was to the constitution. if the law allowed him to make a public interest defense and say look at all the good this has done, to say the government hasn't been able to prove any harm from these disclosures, he would face trial in that kind of system. for now, he doesn't believe and i don't believe that the cost of his act of conscious should be a life behind bars. >> snowden has been in russia since june, granted asylum for one year. >> cracking down on the mean streets of brazil's slums. why some high crime areas are feeling the heat from police. >> trapped by ice, 10 feet thick, attempting to reach a research team stopped in antarctica. >> one of the military's first female pilots talks about her unit.

>> good morning, welcome back to aljazeera america.

i'm stephanie sy. cracking down on crime in brazil's toughest neighborhoods. some say the areas are now getting much-needed attention from authorities there. >> first, let's look at temperatures today. nicole. >> well, definitely what i call snuggle weather as we head toward the midwest. you want to snuggle back under the covers and not get out of them, minus 10 this morning in minute ominneapolis. highs today in the midwest, six for minneapolis, chicago we've had a significant drop since yesterday, the temperatures were actually dropping through yesterday. you might have been stuck at the airport, seeing the deicing going on because of all that and the moisture, 14 for today. farther to the south, cold air is starting to sink in here, as well, that means we're going to have a pretty good dividing line. memphis at 38, versus new orleans at 60 degrees.

you can kind of tell that temperature contrast. as we head our way out to a couple of other holiday forecast a couple of days from now, maybe in seattle with the space needle, we're going to see a high of 50. overnight those temperatures into the 30's nothing news. >> thousands of people are evacuating homes in el salvador after a volcanic eruption. ash shot out of the volcano earlier today. there are no reports of any injuries, but several people were treated for breathing problems. it is more than 7,000 feet tall. its last big eruption was more than 30 years ago. >> in just six months, brazil will be the center of the soccer universe. before the word cup kicks off in rio, police are trying to clean up shanty towns. the pacifyion drive as it's

called has come at a cost. it's called pass if i occasion. >> the state was absent in these communities for many years. we arrived and we have this obligation to reconquer this community and for the residents to grow to trust us. >> the resident friendly police are having success. murder rates are dropping and so is the number of violent crimes, but the tactics of the pacification police are increasingly questioned, as more cases emerge of unarmed people being killed or abducted. some places, police have only

limited access. >> this is a community that has yet to be pacified by the police and is under criminal of a criminal gang which conducts their activities in the open. >> every day, people line up to buy drugs, cocaine, meth and marijuana are sold, guarded by armed men who block the streets. the traffickers say police only show up to arrest people but never stay for long. >> >> there are more police here now, making it tough to work. most of them earn money from us as well and we just end up getting pushed back. >> by the time of the world cup, police hope to have 40 communities with a police presence, a fraction of the more than 900 areas in the city. >> these areas have been neglected, these are the most violent areas. there is no question that the president has been selective and is oriented toward certain projects for the city, which is

to turn rio de janeiro into a tourist center. >> some worry that once the sporting events are over, the police will leave, but he said he is not going anywhere. >> 25 police officers have been charged with the torture and murder of a resident, but city officials insist the quality of life is improving, pointing to sharply increasing test scores at schools and pacified areas. >> wall street is looking to add to this year's record gain, stock futures higher, dow futures up 11 points. this morning, the dow kicks off the day up 26% in 2013. the s. and p. is up 29% for the year, the concern for 2014 is

what happens overseas. >> you have to be concerned about the thing you can't predict and that is a negative event coming to us from europe because of the banking crisis there. japan is an economic mess. theian is dropping and economically, they're a disaster. >> in europe, the markets are lower and asia mostly higher, the make key jumping to a sixer high on the last trading day of 2013. the index rising nearly 67% this year, logging its best year since 1972. >> we'll get more insight into the housing market this morning, reality tore release in pending home sales index for november. the index is expected to show a small bounce, showing five months of decline. >> apple and google are looking to expand their reach into the small car market. the two tech drives will make

announcements at next week's consumer electronics show about their latest in-roads to the industry. google is expected to team with audi for an entertainment system. apple will integrate iphone and other devices with dashboard control panels. >> a new york hospital could be the only hope for the family of a 13-year-old california girl declared brain dead. her family has been fighting a colorado hospital to keep her on the vent later, but time may be running out. we have the latest. no matter how you cut it, this is a sad situation. >> such a sad situation. the family attorney does not want to provide the name of the hospital they are working with in case the media attention could cost them their chances of transferring the girl. they truly believe it could be her last hope. the hospital plans to disconnect her vent later at 5:00 today. >> we declare her brain alive.

>> family and friends prayed outside of children's hospital open on sunday as time particularrion down to the moment on monday when she is disked from her vent layer. the 13-year-old california girl was declared brain dead nearly three weeks ago, after she suffered cardiac arrest from a routine tonsilectomy. since then, the hospital has been pushing to take her off life support, but her family has been fighting to keep her alive. in court, they got a judge to delay the disconnection, but that time is running out. they found two nursing homes that stepped up to take her in and try to revive her, but then both backed out. the family is desperate to get anyone to help their cause, because in this mother's eyes, since her daughter's heart is still beating, then she is alive. >> i am optimistic in my faith that god is going to make a way for us. she is making little movements and she is still getting prayed

for. >> her step four holds out hope that some facility will help. >> there is a place in new york. >> officials with children's hospital say there is no such place and no such hope. >> there's unfortunately no amount of hope, no amount of prayer that can bring her back. i think everybody in this hospital, everybody in this community, all the friends of the family and the family all are grieving, because this is an irreversible and sat situation. >> the sad reality comes later today. >> when 5:00 comes around, the vent later will be removed. >> those soft spoken words were hard and fast, the vent later will be removed from her, who has been using it to breathe since december 9. >> the next step is for everyone to pay their respects and to move on. >> moving on is not going to be easy for this family, especially when strangers around the world continue to support their fight

for life. that. >> thanks to everybody out there that's been sending their prayers and sending cards and letters. she reads every last one of them and that gives her strength to keep going even further. >> her mother said people sent dozens of christmas gifts and she put them under the tree, because she believes one day, be her daughter will be well enough to open they will. as for the disconnection time scheduled for today at 5:00, it can be delayed if the family files an appeal uncourt. >> three different doctors have declared her brain dead. that what is keeping this family going? >> the mother was just saying over the weekend that over these past few weeks, she has seen more and more body movement from her daughter as well as when they look at that vent later, because she just does stair at it. she sees that at some moments, her daughter seems to be breathing on her own. >> how does a mother ever let go of a child, right? thank you so much. >> following two deadly suicide

bombings in russia over the weekend, new questions are being raised about the safety of the upcoming olympics in sochi. >> the flu is back and spreading quickly across the country. it's widespread in 10 states in the northeast and south. >> the rose bowl parade is honoring high flying women this year, heroic world war ii vets taking to the skies when flying was considered a man's job. >> the 2014 winter olympics in sochi may seem like the x gales. we are going to have more from olympic hopefuls, coming up later on in sports.

the stream is uniquely interactive television. we depend on you, >> you are one of the voices of this show. >> so join the conversation and

make it your own. >> the stream. weeknights 7:30 et / 4:30 pt on al jazeera america and join the conversation online @ajamstream. >> 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 stephanie sy. there has been another deadly explosion in the southern russian city of volgograd.

14 were killed in a trolley bus attack at a train station. >> a reporter with the christian science monitor joins us via skype from moscow with with more. thanks for being with us. two bombings in 24 hours. what are russian officials saying about these attacks and are they linked? >> well, the investigators report at least the initial one from this toll lee bus bombing says that the bombs were -- the bomb that went off in the bus is nearly identical to the train station bombing yesterday and believe they were made in the same place, so they are linking the attacks. the attack today also is eerily similar to one in volgograd which blew up a trolley bus last

october, so it teams like we are looking at an orchestrated campaign of bombings. >> no one, i understand, has claimed responsibility, yet are russian authorities pointing the finger at any particular group? >> yes, i think there is no doubt that there is some network in the north caucuses, which is russia's southern region heavily muslim populated, very impoverished badly run area where there has been a low level insurgency going on for about a decade and a half. terrorists from this region have reached out and hit the russian heartland repeatedly in the last decade and a half. it comes in cycles and we are clearly going through a new cycle. in the north caucuses, there is a war lowered, a chechnyaen be

who warned, he seems to be the leader of the biggest terrorist network and he did warn several months ago that he was lifting his so-called moratorium on attacks against russian cities and that there would be a wave of attacks before the olympics, so he seems the likeliest suspect here. >> how concerned do russian officials need to be? these types of attacks do occur in the caucuses. they haven't occurred outside of the restive region for a year or so. how concerned do russian officials need to be that this signals the group being able to reach further out into russia. >> i think they have demonstrated they have this ability now. they certainly have demonstrated it in the past, but russian officials do take every lull of their activity as a sign that

their security measures are working. clearly if they can strike three times in volgograd like this, they still maintain this capability. >> already, fred wier from moscow, thanks for joining us. >> south sudans neighbors are pushing for a political solution to the crisis there. the uganda president visited today for talks. the countries minister of information said a group known as the white army is no longer planning what he called a vicious military confrontation. the militia is made up of 25,000 young people loyal to the countries foamer vice president. the government accuses the former vice president of attempting a coup. hundreds have been killed and 180,000 displaced as a result of the fighting since mid december he will. >> in neighboring uganda, nearly

two decades of a civil war killed hundreds of thousands of people. a man by the name of joseph kony led a violent armed campaign, abducting children and forcing them to fight. the conflict ended in 2006, but as aljazeera reports, many are still struggling to move on. >> this pair of boots is all that remains of a son abducted in 1997 when he was just 12. the rebels abducted children and mutilated people. the man is trying to accept what's probably true. >> if my child is alive, come back. let's see you coming back. that would be very, very great. but now, i don't think.

yeah. >> his wife was so upset at the loss of their child that she killed herself. now he lives with his chickens for company. he said he is waiting for god to take him away. he is one of thousands in northern uganda who's children went missing during the civil war. he says things got easier when he joined a counseling group for people with missing children organized by the red cross. here several groups have come together to hold a memorial ceremony. for most of the children abducted, there is no record, no list of names or numbers. many people are poor, so very few have family photos or any other kinds of memorabilia. the red cross estimates about 12,000 went miss i can and never came back. the n.r.a. are now scattered

across neighboring countries, so realistically very few of those 12,000 are going to come home. people have gathered today to come to terms with that and begin the process of moving forward. they take turns to say the nails of those who never came home. the memories are painful. >> a son or a daughter is something that for those who don't live it, losing is very difficult to understand. now they have somebody that understands them and that went through the same and together, they can find a way forward. >> most of these people never buried or even saw the bodies of their loved ones, something that's important in the culture here. it didn't have any kind of closure until now.

while the counsel or ceremony won't bring anyone back, it can ease the grief. aljazeera, northern uganda. >> human righties organizations estimate joseph kony's army abducted more than 30,000 children to fight as soldiers in the civil war. >> the u.n. said it is unlikely that the deadline for removing chemical weapons from syria will be met. there is an onslaught in aleppo. volatile security conditions and bad weather led to the delay. according to an international agreement, president bashar al assad's government has until mid 2014 to destroy its chemical weapons program. more air strikes were carried out sunday by the military in the city of aleppo. activists say 20 people were killed after barrels of explosives were dropped on

civilians at a vegetable market. government bombings began there two weeks ago. >> promising news for syrian refugees in the iraq occurred issue region. civilians encouraged to find jobs in local industries. because they can speak arabic and kurdish, they can work in tourist and foreign trade industries. >> iraq is a good country where refugees can find jobs especially people who know the dilemma of syrian refugees. i am very happy to work in this restaurant where all people respect us and prepare all things for us. >> more than 2 million syrians have fled to neighboring countries because of the on going civil war. 210,000 of them are living in iraq. >> the affordable care act marks a milestone. the white house says more than 1 million americans have now signed up for health insurance on the federal exchange, most of them enrolled this month after significant issues with the

website healthcare.gov were ironed out. the total is still falling far short of the 3 million enrollees, the obama administration had predicted that by january 1. we have more on the enrollment numbers. good morning, brian. >> good morning. yes, obamacare is the law of the land and no, the political fight over it isn't over. >> congress is looking forward to a new year, but digging in for familiar fights over affordable care act. >> the damage will have to be dealt with as pat of any reform. >> at this car dealership in michigan, employees found out their insurance has been canceled because it doesn't comply with the new health care you. >> how are we supposed to live? >> dedugoutables and out of pocket expenses nearly tripling and can hit $12,000 for a family. >> you don't make that much money to begin with.

the prescriptions are going to kill me. >> supporters of the affordable care act are focusing on the positive. lots of people are able to purchase health insurance for the first time and the troubled website is finally working. >> on christmas eve, there were about a million people on the website or made a phone call to enroll. >> state run exchanges, 2 million people have purchased insurance, significantly short of the 7 million the administration hopes to have signed up by march. >> the white house is hoping to cull out with its own affordable care act success stories. stephanie. >> reporting from washington, thanks, brian. >> flu season is here and spread i can quickly across the country. ten states are seeing a lot of cases. one of the hardest hit states is texas where officials say the virus is widespread. we have more on the outbreak

there. >> doctors across the houston area are seeing more patients than usual with flu symptoms. >> most definitely, this year, we've seen an up particular in patient volume. >> doctors and neighbors at emergency rooms in houston are seeing 50% more patients than usual suffering with the flu. houston's department of health says most of the cases have been caused by the h1n1 strain. >> ate% of the positive specimens we have looked at are h1n1. >> the flu made a million americans sick last season. health officials say the best defense is a flu shot. it protects more than just the person who gets it. >> you can even say the health of your family and other families, also. >> fewer than half of americans have had the flu shot. doctors say anyone six months or older who hasn't should get one

now. >> the c.d.c. said there are many strains of the flu virus with h1n1 being most common. most of the cases in texas are from h1n1. >> a pregnant nurse in pennsylvania was fired because she refused to get a flu shot. the nurse says she was concerned that the vaccination could have a side effect on her unborn child. she has suffered two miscarriages and says she didn't want to risk a third. her employer health care services required all staff members to get the vaccine. pregnant women maybe even more susceptible to the flu. >> the winter olympics are over a month away. two u.s. that's are looking for gold. >> there are a couple sports, couple athletes in this sport that test the laws of gravity. for the first time, the addition of ski and snowboard slopestyle

were added to the winter olympics roster. i caught up with two americans hoping to make their mark in the new events. >> athletes like nick and tom have an opportunity of a lifetime to showcase their talent. >> we had no idea this was going to be an olympic sport until a year and a half ago. a lot of us, childhood dreams were about the x games and not the olympics, because that was our olympics essentially up until sochi. >> known for his nearly flawless runs, the indiana native started seeing when he was just five years old. >> i started skiing when i was five and i started doing flips on my skis when i was 11. i grew up in southeastern indiana, not really known or its amazing skiing, but five minutes away from a little 350-foot hill that i skiid on after school and every day on the weekends. that's what got me into it. >> nick had to get creative to continue to ski because of cost. >> when i was 14, 15 years old,

my dad lost his job and was unemployed for two years. financially, my family was a little unstable and so weren't able to support me to the full extent with all my skiing endid he haves. so i had to kind of take the initiative to go out and finance my skiing career myself. i was kind of an entrepreneur back then. i went to my mom one day and gave her this idea that i had, and so she supported it and we went to the store and bought candy bars in bulk and i would ride the school bus with 20-pound box of sandy bars every day and sell them to my friends for a dollar on the way and back from school. i'm sure i was a pest and they got sick of me asking them to buy a candy bar. >> for the pittsburgh native, tom wallace credits his parents for getting him started. >> my parents were into skiing approximate. they weren't racers or really good at it. more than anything, they wanted me to get outside, they were really into getting outside,

being active and wanted to get me out of the house in the winter. i fell in love with the speed, the air, the cool air, the snow. i mean, everything about being on skis was just amaze i can to me and i stuck with it. >> like any sport, there is an element of danger. wallace tore his m.c.l. in 2013. >> the fear for us is what makes it exciting, the adrenaline rush from trying something new, going out every day and trying these crazy tricks is to know and makes it fun to watch. there are sports where you risk life and limb. this looks crazier, but i swear we're calculated. >> you're flying high over big jumps and grinding metal rails. the fear factor, i would say it definitely is nerve wracking but elevates the fun we have. >> the goal of the x games in 2013, he was third at the f.i.c.

world championships. >> winning a gold medal at the x games was really kind of all of my childhood dreams coming true and it really meant a lot, because it was kind of the accumulation of all my, i don't know, hard work and sacrifice, and, you know, just dedication to skiing from such a young age. >> wallace won his first f.i.s. world championship title in norway in 2013 understand is called one of the most electrifying slope skiers in the game. as the sochi games draw near, he wants to keep the same training routine. >> it's been working. i don't want to change anything. i don't want to jinx it. i want to keep it the same, go out, have fun, ski as much as i can, be cautious, safe, know when to calm it quits, when to go hard and just do what i do. >> as far as the political views in russia, wallace tries not to consume himself with that. >> there's so many things going on in russia. it's so far away and different from us, and just try to respect what that is and go in there. i'm looking forward to going as

an athlete, doing the best i can and hopefully bringing home a gold medal for my country. >> it looks like they are ready to go at it now. >> despite the security concerns, i am psyched about seeing these guys go at it. thank you so much. >> the rose bowl parade is honoring heroic veterans who took to the skies as pilots during world war ii. >> a lot of cold air out there, but not a lot of moisture. i'll let you know where it is snowing. >> 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.

on techknow, our scientists

special group of women at this year's rose bowl. first let's look at where the rain and snow may fall. nicole mitchell is back. >> the wig water cooler talk today is going to be the cold temperatures. not a lot of moisture, maybe in a couple spots out here. we have both the disturbance area moving through the northern plains, minnesota getting snow and more rain in south texas, texas can use the rain. brownsville is getting some of that right how to. for a closer look, the tough in the midwest where we've had a couple isolated areas, the wind flow will see lake effect snow

today, a lot of this in the northern tear of the country, light amounts, one to three inches. nothing too troublesome but snow and cold can make a go. a lot of this light, a little more in that area, tomorrow, as well. and then what we're looking at the in the southern portion of texas. is a mentioned, the temperatures quite frigid especially in the center of the united states. we'll have more on that coming up. >> france has given the go ahead for its much debated millionaires tax. under the president's proposal, companies will pay a 50% duty on workers who make more than 1 million euros, which is $1.4 million. as a way to make the wealthy help with the countries financial crisis. >> the rose bowl parade is going to honor a special group of women this year. the women were the first to fly planes during world war ii. we sat down with one of the

women, known as watches. >> her hands are not as head as they once were, her eyes not as sharp, but in her heart, she's a pilot. its what she always wanted to be. >> i used to tell my father that's what i wanted to do. he'd always say not something girls usually do, but say more power to you. i was never discouraged by him. >> there was never much hope for a woman who wanted to fly until the attack on pearl harbor. she saw a newspaper ad seeking women pilots. she went for training in texas. >> i was just really excited, because i was going to get to fly and we could see the airplane sitting out on the field. >> the military was forming what became known as the women air force service pilots, the watches. during the war, they shodled bombers and fighters around the country and flew transport. when they started, flying was a man's world. even the flight suits were for men. >> you went in and picked one out and hopefully i fit you ok.

there were too long in the legs, too big in the middle, and you just rolled them or did what have you needed to do and wore them. >> the training was difficult. >> one of the things we had to do before we could solo, they would blind fold us and name an instrument and you had to touch it and tell what it read and what you would do if it malfunctioned and why it was important it was in the airplane. >> it turned out women could fly. she learned on the at6 trainer. >> i did the wingovers, the spins, i did everything i could think of that we had been taught to do and it was just a beautiful airplane to do it. >> she ended up as a transport pilot and flying a b26 bomber dragging a target in live flier exercises. >>ner can you haved to me that it would be dangerous. >> it was dangerous. that of just over a thousand women who became pilots, 38 died in accidents. after the war, she had a family, and never flew again, but new

year's day aboard this float commemorating the watches, she will be in parade dress. >> i will wear my wicks. my wings will be on. i will wear my star and so that to me, those two things say this is who i am. >> this is a moment of recognition for her, for seven other women who will ride in the rose parade and for all the watches who are gone now. >> this is a big deal to me and i think the appreciation that people need to know that we were there. i'm living proof of that, that women did fly in war. >> new year's day, she'll be flying high once more. aljazeera, pasadena, california. >> national treasures they are. the women who served at air force pilots in word war two flew over 60 million miles in every type of military aircraft. >> a new york native will help ring in the new year. supreme court justice sonia

sotomayor will drop the famous ball in times square. she joined the high court in 2009 and is one of four justices on the court from new york city. one fixture as the ball drops, michael bloomberg. he will not participate in the event for the first time in 11 years. instead, he plans to ring in the new year privately with family and friends. >> we are joined now with del walters. >> good morning. as you have been reporting, 14 people have been killed in a bombing in russia where a train station was attacked on sunday. the white house saying more than 1 million americans have now signed up for health insurance through the affordable care act. the united nations says it will likely miss this month's deadline to remove chemical weapons from syria. the delay is blamed on security issues. >> a new round of frigid temperatures is gripping the country. what does that mean for the upcoming news holiday?

i'll have that forecast. >> del walters is back with you with more news in just a call minutes.

>> al jazeera's investigative unit has tonight's exclusive report. >> stories that have impact... that make a difference... that open your world... >> this is what we do... >> america tonight weeknights 9et / 6pt only on al jazeera america

>> there has been another deadly attack in russia, an explosion killing 14 on a toll lee bus in volgograd just one day after 17 people are were killed in a blast at a train station in the same city. >> hiking a health care milestone, more than 1 million signed up for affordable care act, insurance set to kick in with the new year. >> stranded in the ice. a russian ship trapped in frozen seas off the coast of antarctica and terrible weather conditions making rescue nearly impossible. >> honoring a group of groundbreaking pilots, women who flew critical missions during world war ii.

>> welcome to aljazeera america, i'm del walters. there has been another bombing in the russian city of volgograd. 14 people were killed overnight in an attack on a trolley bus one day after 18 were killed in a suicide bombing at a train station in that same city. volgograd is a city of 1 million people about 600 miles south of moscow and 400 miles north of sochi where the winter olympics will be held in just six weeks. this is the third fatal attack in that russian city in the past two months. the u.s. now condemning the attacks and saying it stands with russia against terrorism. aljazeera's peter shortstop is in moscow with the latest on the train station bombing. >> the aftermath of the attack on a railway station in #-gs, a body on the ground as the emergency services cram belled to treat survivors. officials say a woman set off explosionives near metal detectors at the main train

station entrance, the blast captured on camera. the station was packed with thousands leaving on their christmas holidays. >> everything was covered in smoke. there were bodies every before. inside the train station itself, everything is destroyed. >> the attack killed and injured dozen was people. >> according to preliminary information, the power was the equivalent of 10 kilograms of t.n.t. there would have been more victims if it weren't for the guarding system. it prevented the bomber from getting through the metal detector into the waiting haul which had lots of people because three trains were late. >> in the same southern city in october, seven people died on a bus. the latest killings raised serious security concerns ahead of february's winter olympics in sochi, which lice just 400 kilometers from check knee i can't and dagestan.

>> president putin offered support to the family and relatives of those killed and injured in this attack. security at the winter olympics will continue to be an overriding concern for the kremlin. it's already deployed more than 30,000 troops and security personnel into the region in an attempt to lockdown these winter olympics. >> in an internet video early this year, leader of russian's accept are a activity muslim rebels urged maximum force to disrupt the sochi games. he canceled his mother at her yum on attacks in russia. his group claimed responsibility for attacks including the 2010 moscow underground attack that killed 40. that just two days ago, a car bomb killed three people in the southern russian city. as the violence continues to claim lives, ordinary russians may well wonder where the next

attack will come. aljazeera, in moscow. >> in light of this latest bombing, russian president vladimir putin ordering the counter terrorism agency to increase security nationwide. for nearly 20 years, russia has been fight in an insurgency in the regions of chechnya and dog to know as well as sochi. over the past two decades, there have been at least 15 attacks in russia, many involving chechnya fighters, killing 1300 people, including hundred was children. we report on the violence and impact on the olympics. >> violence is no stranger to vladimir putin's russia. it stems from decades of conflict. in 1999, the rug army innovated chechnya under orders putin described as an anti terrorist operation. the conflict that followed lasted nine years. 50,000 civilians died along with

5,000 russians. in 2001, a pro moscow regime was installed. the conflict officially declared over. accept are a activity groups spread through the northern caucuses, still the center of an islamist insurgency. >> there is a pattern emerging, that is before certain large federal events and certainly the sochi olympics is the biggest, there have been these sorts of attacks. i think what they want to do is remind the kremlin that they are here and they are a force to be reckoned with. >> chechnyaen war lord has called on disruption to the games. >> the maximum impact would be a pull off an attack in the russian capitol, but moscow is a much more difficult city to penetrate than volgograd. here you've got a combination of a city that is sizeable, volgograd is a big city close to the caucuses and it has to be

that much easier to get into than moscow. >> perhaps much easier that that the winter olympics as security extends 50 miles along the black sea coast and 30 miles inland. drones and special troops monitoring traffic in and out of the city, but russians outside the zone may not be getting the same level of protection. aljazeera. >> those winter olympics begin february 7. >> across russia's border, pro tests in ukraine got permanent to the president, protestors marching to his home calling for his resignation and carrying this coffin to symbolize the end of his political career. the demonstration was peatful. thousands gathered at key every's independence square. they are outraged over the beating of a reporter who exposed the lavish lifestyles of ukraine and other officials

there. >> government officials say 34 attackers have been killed in congo and troops retaking control of a television station. much of that fighting over an area that is rich with minerals, more than 20,000 u.n. peace keeping forces are in the country, that conflict claiming more than 5 million lives since the late 1990's. >> there are damages new causations leveled in the national security agency. a german magazine is saying the n.s.a. has a skilled hacking team that specializes in getting the ungettable. the team he has high tech spies that intercept computer chefs, exploit hardware vulnerabilities, and highjacked microsofts internal supporting system. it is based on leaks by edward snowden. >> parts of the midwest are

seeing a drastic drop in temperatures. for more, we turn to nicole mitchell. >> you look at the twin cities in minnesota, dropping from the upper 40's 47 in minneapolis to negatives this morning. the last 24 hours, 20-degree drop but over the last two days, it's been closer to 60 degrees of a drop. we're having a little warm up now after the initial cold in rapid city because of some of those down flow winds. most of the region is going to stay frigid and a lot of temperature below zero this morning. unfortunately, midwest is sharing all that cold air. it's already been moving eastward and so itward, so we're watching some of these temperatures drop, not as dramatically, but you might notice a 10-degree drop from yesterday. as we get across the region, here's what we're going to look at as we head closer to the holiday. with all of that going on, a the least a big batch of moisture on

the east coast has cleared significantly. we're mostly watching just scattered snow showers especially in the dakotas this morning. we've got a little bit that have. tomorrow, a lot of people concerned about those new year's eve plans. we are going to see the same area watching for the moisture, but a lot of the country will remain dry, so that's good news for some of those different events. a couple of theties, not every city does a drop of something, some do fireworks or different events. minneapolis, the only thing dropping has been the temperatures, a high of five for new year's day. chicago will be at 26, as we get out there and as we head to parts of the south, atlanta drops the peach. miami at 81 degrees for new year's day does an orange. one of my favorites is key west, a big high heeled red shoe on new year's eve. back to you, del. >> it is the dill pickle drop in eerie, pennsylvania. that.

>> egypt saying a presidential vote might take place before parliament. some critics suggest changing the order of the elections would give the new president more control over who gets elected to parliament. egypt has seen a series of attacks after the government designated the must rim brotherhood a terrorist organization, a bomb exploding near cairo on sunday. >> egyptian security forces have arrested aljazeera's oring team in coy re. our coach you see here, producers, and cameraman all picked up from their homes and hotel and are now held in custody. all are experienced journalists who have worked for a number of international media organizations in the past two decades. aljazeera demanding that its staff be released right away. >> the main route that carries supplies for nato troops from pakistan to afghanistan has been blocked for nearly a month. activists setting up road blocks

to protest american drone strikes in the region. on going blockades could affect u.s. aid to pakistan. >> they've been here since november 22nd, stopping any trucks suspected of carrying supplies for nato into afghanistan. this man has been here every day since the blockade started. >> our protests will continue until the drone attack has been stopped, because there are a lot of innocent people has been killed. this is why this protest will go and we will not stop until the drones have been topped by the americans. >> drone strikes are deeply unpopular in pakistan. the government routinely condemns each attack as a violation of national sovereignty, but it's believed to give approval to some strikes. the prime minister does not support these protests. >> the government has been largely silent about the

blockade, but it is no doubt a concern. the u.s. congress recently passed a bill which could see pakistan receive more than $1.5 billion in cash, but is linked to the movement of these supply lanes. if that's stopped, so could be the payments. >> it's not just the government concerned. this man runs an outdoor restaurant which caters to truck drivers. he said since the blockade started, he's barely able to keep his business running. >> this road used to be packed with trucks, now there are none. those that do come through here don't stop for food. if the nato blockade continues, i'll to have close my restaurant, because i just won't be able to meet my expenses. >> not all supply lines blocked. a route through the east remains open and goods can be moved through central asia. still, this is the busiest and most important passage used to supply nato forces and move

military hardware out of afghanistan. the longer it stays closed, the more complicated it becomes for coalition partners to withdraw its combat troops ahead of next year's deadline. aljazeera. >> that nato supply route has been closed in the past, pakistan blocking the pass for several months in 2011 after u.s. air strikes accidentally killed two dozen soldiers on the afghan bored, pakistan reopening that route after the u.s. apologized. >> following those two deadly suicide bombings in russia, new questions now being raised about the safety of the upcoming gales in sochi. >> trapped by ice 10 feet thick, attempting to rescue a research team stuck in the frozen landscape of antarctica.

>> welcome back to aljazeera america. i'm del walters. just ahead, the flu bug is back and it is spreading quickly cross the country. we're going to look at where the misery is already being felt.

first, let's find out how hot or cold it is going to be where you are today with nicole mitchell. >> speaking of misery being felt, we definitely had colder air that is in some cases dropped temperatures 40 or 50 degrees, the highs over just a couple of days, parts of the midwest, so minneapolis at minus 11. the cold air has spread southward. memphis at 31, houston at 41. it's definitely a chillier start than we're used to. fargo, minus four, you hope the car turns over and that the battery isn't dead out there. so to have the south, all of this is spreading southward, as well. we're going to see a temperature divide. memphis 38 versus birmingham at 47. orlando, 74. if you made the family vacation to disney world for example, you probably lucked out especially if your from the midwest and get a little bit of a break from the

cold. into the northeast, temperatures drop slightly with the cold air coming in, not as dramatically with the cold air. tomorrow, looking at 50's across the south. >> nicole, thank you very much. >> there has been another deadly explosion in the southern city of volgograd. there was an attack on a trolley bus after an attack on a train station in the same city sunday. russian president approximate vladimir putin stepping unsecurity across the country since those attacks. ronald donaldson from the university of tulsa joins us this morning. professor, good morning. >> good morning. >> we know who we suspect might be behind these attacks. they warned the government they would do so in july, so why hasn't the putin government been able to stop these attack officers. >> they have indeed been responsible for a number of attacks, a couple of them in moscow, one on the subway in

2010, one on the airport in 2011. the self proclaimed leader of an emrhett that he says is for the whole of the northern caucuses, and these are obviously related to the long struggle in chechnya, bombers used are the so-called black widows, the widows of fighters who were fighting the russians for check chechiaen independence.

for an audience not familiar with this person, how ruthless is he? >> he is the heir of the killing of several middle school students and their parents on the opening day of school back in 2004. this group really rewards itself as fighting to the death, and they reward obviously as all terrorists do civilians of any type as fair game in the kind of struggle that they have outlined here and the struggle is one that sochi is a natural target for a couple of reasons. obviously, it's very close to the northern caucuses where these people are rooted, but also, this is the prehe mere

project of vladimir putin, the premier enemy of these forces, and so to create concern and even possibly to create some kind of attack that would disrupt the sochi games, that is certainly something that these people would be delighted to do. they have no scruples at all about that. >> now based on what you know about this group and against the backdrop that that everybody keeps saying that the winter olympics will be safe, russian president vladimir putin guaranteeing that, is this group capable of still carrying out a massive attack on the olympics itself, not surrounding targets, but the olympics? >> that's obviously the $64 question. i think one of the reasons that the russians were so concerned about the chemical weapons in syria was not that they necessarily wanted to protect

bashar al assad from an attack by the united states. it was rather that they didn't want those chemical weapons to fall into the hands of radical jihadist elements in syria that could easily ally with the northern caucuses group and pull off some kind of remote attack on sochi. it's not simply a matter of smuggling a suicide bomber into the very well-guarded city, and they will have heavy security on the ground, but i think they need to worry about a possible rocket attack, as well. it's very difficult to say, but i'm sure there's a lot of planning going on right now on both sides, both the side of the terrorists and the side of the security forces. >> professor, a double question, one, how is this going to affect the image of value pool who has set himself aside as one of the tough guys of the world and if you had a ticket to the olympics right now, would you go?

>> well, i think putin is very much concerned about his image as the tough guy. he personally lobbied to bring the olympics to sochi, which is a given that there aren't palm trees lining the roads. it's an odd place for the winter olympics to begin with. he's directed $50 billion worth of new construction. he's put russia's resources and his own prestige on the line. i noel do, obviously with his own background in the k.g.b., he will do everything possible to try to protect people, and he's given those assurances. at the dinner table last night, i said to my family, i hope none of you are planning to go. >> i think that sups it up, thank you.

>> flu season is here and spreading quickly, 10 states saying they're seeing a lot of cases. one of the hardest hit states so far is texas, where officials are now saying the virus is widespread. aljazeera has more on the outbreak. >> doctors across the houston area are seeing more patients than usual with flu symptoms. >> most definitely this year, we've seen an up particular in patient volume. >> doctors in emergency rooms in houston are seeing 50% more patients than usual suffering with the flu. that houston's department of health says most of the cases have been caused by the h1n1 strain. >> ate 7% of the specimens we have looked at were h1n1. >> the flu made more than 6 million americans sick last season. nearly 400,000 had to go to hospitals. health officials say the best defense is a flu shot. it protects more than just the

person who gets it. >> you can save the health of your family and other families, also. >> the c.d.c. said less than half of americans have had the flu shot. anyone six months or older who hasn't should get one now. >> the c.d.c. saying there are many strains of the flu virus with h1n1 the most common. about 95% of the flu cases in texas are from h1n1. >> the affordable care act macking a milestone, the white house saying more than 1 million americans now signing up for health n on the federal exchange, most of them enrolling this month after those glitches with the website were ironed out. the total is still far short of the 3.3 million enrollees the obama administration was predicting by january 1. brian moore is in washington with more on those enrollment numbers. good morning. >> good morning. so obamacare is the law of the land and no, the political fight

is not over. >> congress is looking forward to a new year, but digging in for familiar fights over obamacare. >> the damage that obamacare has already done and will do january 1, 2 and 3 will have to be dealt with as part of any reform. >> at this car dealership, employees found their insurance canceled because it doesn't comply with the new law. >> how does it help the average americans? how are we supposed to live. >> deductibles and out of pocket expenses tripling and could be $12,000 per family. >> you don't make that much money to begin with and prescriptions going to kill me. >> large numbers of people are able to purchase health insurance for the first time and the troubled healthcare.gov website is finally working. >> on christmas eve and the day before that, there were a million people on the website

for making a phone call to enroll. >> about 2 million people have purchased insurance, significantly fort of the 7 million the administration hopes to have signed up by march. >> as the first policies go live january 1, the white house hopes to go on the offensive with obamacare success stories. del. >> brian, thank you very much. >> a pregnant nurse in philadelphia fired because she refused to get a flu shot. the nurse says she was concerned the vaccination would affect her unborn child. she's had two miscarriages and didn't want the to risk a third. her employer requires staff to get a vaccination, the company saying the pregnant women face a greater risk of getting the flu. >> in business news this morning, there is breaking news concerning a multi-billion dollar tire deal that hit the skids. cooper tire and rubber calling off the buyout of indias apollo

tires. the merger was announced in june and would have created the world's seventh largest tire company, cooper saying it walked away from the deal because financing no longer was available, cooper also saying the terms of the contract were breached and will still be liable for any damage caused by that breakup. >> wall street heading so its best trading year. stock futures alleges changed, do you futures up 10 points. wall street's rally ran out of steam friday and that is where we stand this morning, the dow kicking the day off the index up nearly 26% in 2013. the nasdaq set for a more than 37% gain for the year. one market watcher saying things are still looking up for stocks. >> everything is working perfectly the way it's supposed to and the next two trading days

in the rest of the year, no one can ever predict that. we have no idea what's going to happen but there i see no reason to believe anything is going to change. we should see stock prices rise into 2014. >> in europe, the markets are slightly lower today. in asia, markets ending mostly higher. nikkei to a six year high. today was the last trade i can day of the year in tokyo. the nikkei closing out its best year since 1972. >> new data shows prices in house in in the u.s. are better than before the bubble burst, prices at record levels in 10 of the countries 50 largest areas, but in 1500 cities, the journal noting the prices still at least 25% lower than they were during their highs in the housing crash. >> we're going to get new insight into the housing market later today.

the national association of realtors releasing pending home sales for november in a little less than two hours, indexes expected to show a bounce following months of decline. >> how twitter and facebook on line impacting the real world in 2013. the rose bowl parade honoring high flying women this clear, world war ii vets who took to the skies when playing was considered a man's job. on august 20th, al jazeera america introduced a new voice in journalism. >> good evening everyone, welcome to al jazeera. >> usa today says: >> ...writes the columbia journalism review.

and the daily beast says: >> quality journalists once again on the air is a beautiful thing to behold. >> al jazeera america, there's more to it. 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. >> welcome back to aljazeera america. i'm del walters. russian president vladimir putin stepping up security across russia after a second bombing in the city of volgograd, putin issuing a series of new measures after 14 people were killed overnight in an attack on a

trail lee bus. the blast coming one day after 18 people were killed in a suicide bombing at that same train station in the same city. aljazeera's peter sharp has more. >> the twisted gutted remains of a trolley bus in volgograd, bodies and debris strewn across the street. a male suicide bomber was responsible for the blast, the second deadly attack in the city in the last 24 hours. >> on sunday, 17 people were killed by a suicide bomber in volgograd's main railway station. investigators there say that security controls at the entrance to the station prevented even more deaths. >> the explosion was caused bay suicide bomber, who when trying to pass through the metal detector gates saw a police officer, got nervous and detonated the bomb you with grave consequences. >> president putin has dispatched the head of the intelligence service, the

f.s.b., formerly the k.g.b. to coordinate the hunt for those responsible for these attacks. the people here now worried that this could be just the start of a concerted bombing campaign leading up to the start of the winter olympics in february. >> the sochi olympics are a major prestige project for president vladimir putin, no one has claimed responsible for either of these attacks, but earlier this year, chechnyaen rebel leader called for maximum force to prevent the olympics from being held. >> security has been fightenned now as railway stations and airports across russia. >> in south sudan, the white army is returning home. the militia is no longer

planning a vicious military confrontation. the group is made up of 25,000 young people loyal to the countries former vice president. hundreds have been killed, thousands forced to flee south sudan in the recent weeks. >> the u.n. now saying it probably won't meet tuesday's deadline from removing chemical weapons from syria. an onslaught on the city of aleppo creating concerns and bat weather leading to the delay. the government bashar al assad has until mid 2014 to destroy its chemical weapons and more air strikes were carried out on sunday by that military in the city of aleppo. activists on the ground saying 20 people were killed after planes dropped barrels filled with explosionives on civilian, the death toll standing at 500 since those government bombings began two weeks ago. >> there is promising news for

syrian reef gees in the iraqi kurdish region. they are encouraged to find jobs in industries. they can work in tourism and fortune trade industries. >> iraq is a god country where refugees can find jobs. i am very happy to work in this restaurant where all people respect us and prepare all things for us. >> more than 2 million syrians have fled to neighboring countries because of the ongoing civil war, 210,000 of them now living in iraq. >> in two months, brazil will be the center of the soccer universe. police are clique up notorious shanty towns. the pacification drive began five years ago. critics of the police tactics used say success has a price. >> heavily armed brazilian ellie

security forces teaming to regain control of poor communities in rio ruled by drug diamondbacks for decades. it's called pacification. that's a government drive launch said in 2008 to secure these neighborhoods. many are close to tourist attractions and the world cup and olympics are coming. of a the military operation, the hard part for police is keeping the peace. >> >> the state was absent in these communities for many years. we arrived and we have this obligation to reconquer this community and for the residents to grow to trust us. >> the resident-friendly police are having success, murder rates dropping quickly, and so is the number of violent crimes. the tactics of the pacification police are increasingly being questioned as more cases emerge of unarmed people being killed or abducted. in some places, police have only limited access. this is a community that has yet

to be pacified by the police and under the control of an illegal gang, which conducts activity out in the open. >> every day, people line up to buy drugs. cocaine, meth and marijuana are sold, guarded by armed men. traffickers say police only show up to arrest people, but never stay for long. >> there are more police here now which makes it tougher for us to work. most of them earn money from us, as well and we just end up getting pushed back. >> by the time the world cup final is would in rio, officials hope to have 40 communities with a permanent police presence, a fraction of the more than 900 areas in the city. >> these areas have been neglected by the program. these are the areas. they have been selective in projects for the city, which is

to turn rio de janeiro into a tourist center. >> some people in thety worry that the force will leave once the sporting events are over. >> 25 police officers have been charged with the torture and murder of a resident. city officials insist in rio that the quality of life is getting better, pointing to sharply increasing test scores at schools and what they call pacified areas. >> twitter has reached $20 billion in value, triple the initial price offered when the company went public. facebook has close to 1.2 billion easies and that number keeps growing. politicians, corporations, even the pope using social media. tweeting and facebooks are no longer just for teens. they have become a powerful driving force around the globe.

good morning. >> good morning. >> 2013 quite a year, twitter valid at $50 billion, more than 1 billion facebook users. that there was that billion dollar sale of instagram and now everyone including the pope using twitter. what are we to say of 2013 in the year of social media? >> i think it finally matured this year. there's been talk of waiting for it to mature, now we have heavy user base. was there a single moment that you can point to when all of a sudden everybody said ok, now it's ok to use social media if you're over the age of 22? >> i think 2008 and 2012 elections showed serious people can use social media. we've seen it used in serious ways just recently in turkey and occupy movement. i think it's a thing now. it's not just for kids, in fact a lot of turned off to the facebook and twitter and moved on to other things.

>> i want to talk about how social media was used in campaigns. a lot of people remember that bat kid episode. >> it was this kid who was terminally ill and actually doing ok now who had this desire to be batman for the day in san francisco and basically became a social media event. people followed him over infra instagram, facebook and twitter. >> after that, i became infectious, other cities took to social media doing the same thing. >> it's great. i think it's something people can do and doesn't follow as much as following around with a full camera crew, so it works. >> we saw a rise in mobile, 2011, only 35% of americans owned a smart phone. that number in 2013 rose by more than 20%, what does that say about how social media is being used as well and perhaps more

portable than ever? >> i think you're seeing a lot of companies start with a mobile first strategy. you see snapshot and infra gram and vine that aren't available on your desktop. this is something that's happening. if i was going to start a social network today, it would be mobile first. >> back to your point about young people walking away from certain forms of social media. i used to use a joke in my classroom, telling my students i wand them all to sign up on my space and they would have that look on his face that doesn't he know that is no longer hip. >> in 2013, we've seen really, really big networks growth. you've seen the rice of snapshot and instagram, these smaller networks that are specific to the sort of content you can share and the way you can share it you. i think we've seen young people embrace a more private social media where their parents may

not have every single status up date and picture. >> shouldn't that affect those of us who might think about investing in stock in companies that they may not be around before we see our tock mature. >> if you're a teenager now and not on facebook, it makes sense when you get in college, you're going to need to be on facebook just to be normal. i think those fears are overblown. >> what's next, if i'm not part of this in 2014, will i be behind the bandwagon? what's the new it? >> i think you're already behind. >> i guarantee you, i'm already behind. >> if you're an adult american and not on linked in, facebook and twitter, you are missing personally and professionally. people of finding jobs connecting with friends in a way with social media. it's get onboard or be left behind. >> thank you for joining us. >> thank you.

>> the regular season's final lee in the nfl met ramifications for all kinds of teams and coaches. we have more in sports. >> there's a familiar term around the nfl that follows the sunday of week 17 called black monday. that is the day front offices in the nfl clean house, which means pink slips for nfl coaches on the cushion. the browns didn't wait until monday before firing their head coach following one season following the 4-12 season ending on a seven-game losing skid. either side has to realize this situation doesn't work. this is the third time he has been fired by the organization. he had stints as tight end coach and offensive coordinator with the the browns. sources say washingtons coach is meeting with the redskins coach and is expected to be fired, as well. cowboys head coach might be on the hot seat, too, after his cowboys failed to make the playoffs for a third straight year.

garrett didn't have the luxury of tony romo under center. in steady, it was kyle orton making his first start in two years in their win or take all game against the eagles. brown found an opening and dove into the end zone. it was 24-16 eagles lead there. or to know held his own from the start in this when he finds dez bryant with a great catch, breaks tackle and goes 32 yards. that dallas would go for two but couldn't convert, so trailed by two. or to know would get dallas 40 yards from field goal range. that 40 seconds to go, but his pass to miles austin off the mark and unless your name is brandon boykin, now headed to the playoffs. this marks the third season jerry jones' franchise has lost

a playoff berth. >> kyle orton even though he ended up with two interceptions, i thought if he could play a game the way he played tonight, we had a chance to win it especially backed up by the kind of defense we played. this is very disappointing. there's no feel good in this loss. there was a lot at stake. >> here are your matchups from the first round. the eagles hosting the saints saturday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern while west coast team san francisco travels to a chilly lambeau field for a 4:30 p.m. kickoff sunday. wildcard weekend looks like this, the colts hosting the chiefs in a saturday 4:00 p.m. game while the chargers head oh to cincinnati to face the bengals at 1:00. all roads of course lead to the superbowl february 2 in new york's met life stadium. >> let's talk about retired

formula one driver continuing to fight for his life after a skiing accident. the driving legend remains in a medically induced coma after undergoing brain surgery. the seven time champion fell and hit a rock while skiing and sustained a head injury. schumaker was wearing a helmet at the time and remakes in critical condition with severe bruising on his brain. >> one of the best ever to hold a u.f.c. title may have fought his last fight. silva broke his left leg on a second round kick during his bout to retain his middleweight title in las vegas. the 38-year-old had immediate surgery on that left leg and the recovery time is expected to be at least three to six months. >> del, i spared you the gruesome pictures of that break. >> it reminds you of that kevin ware situation with louisville where you just gasp.

>> absolutely. >> the rose bowl parade going to honor high flying women this year, hero i can veterans who took to the sky as pilots in word war two. >> the russian ship stuck in the ice in antarctica still struck. a lot of you are feeling frozen this morning. it's not just the snow, it's the temperatures. i'll have the details coming up.

>> welcome back oh august marrying. well, they might as well relax and enjoy the view of the ice because for now, they are not going anywhere. the fate of that ship stuck in antarctica straight ahead but first let's finds out where it's going to rain and snow across the country today with nicole mitchell. >> temperatures are going to be the big part of that story and the midwest is part of that. we have areas of snow starting to push a little more from the dakotas into iowa right now and then the rain that we're seeing in portions of texas, taking a closer lock at that with the wind glow over the great likes,

there have been just a couple of isolated spots with lake effect snow, watch for that, but the core of this, iowa tarting to get a little bit, moving quickly a lot of places perhaps one to three-inches, but there's enough wind, this will be blowing and as i said, it's already very brink out there. this is what we're looking at for today, tomorrow kind of the same line, shifts a little bit to the south. this is the core of what we see across the country for moisture, with the exception of brownsville this morning, get a little bit of rain, but most of texas is taking dry. back to you. >> nicole, thank you very much. >> a blizzard now hampering the efforts to free that research ship that has been trapped for nearly a week. two attempts a reach the russian vessel have failed. there is no guarantee that another ship will be able to get to them in time. >> what was supposed to be a scientific expedition has now left a russian ship and its passengers stranded at sea since

christmas eve. 74 people, including a team of researchers stuck off the coast about 100 miles east of a french research station. they left new zealand in november on a privately funded expedition commemorating the 100th anniversary of an an arctic exploration. last week, things went terribly wrong. battling blizzard like weather, the ship sent a distress signal after the ship was trapped in ice. several attempts to free the ship have failed pap chinese ice breaker came within six nautical miles of the ship saturday, but bad weather and ice conditions kept the snow dragon from reach, inc. it. another ice breaker from france couldn't make it past the edge of the ice. these explorers hope another ice breaking ship located 100 miles away can free them. >> it is making way slowly.

mainly due to the ice and weather conditions. that there are know showers at the moment and it is very poor visibility out there. >> despite being stuck in more than 13 miles of ice nearly 10 feet thick, the ship isn't in danger of civicking. the leader of the research expedition said in a skype interview that seen though they're at a frozen stand still, the 74 researchers crew are doing fine and morale is high. >> everyone is safe and sound and very comfortable down below decks, where they're said to be having a cup of tea or coffee. we have enough food and water, plenty of fuel onboard. we have two weeks of fresh food. >> the next attempt will involve using a he will cotter from the chinese ship snow dragon, which is still in the area.

>> this kind of ice is a common hazard for ships traveling through that area. temperatures can dip down to minus 100 degrees fahrenheit. >> the millionaire tax in france, companies will have to pay a 50% duty on workers who make more than 1 million euros as a measure to make the waley help pay the opportunity tories financial debt. >> the rose bowl set to honor a special group of with women this year. the veterans were the first women to fly planes during world war ii. we sat down with one woman. >> her hands are not as steady as they once were.

>> my father used to say flying was not something women did, but more power to you. i was neve discouraged by him. >> she saw a newspaper ad seeking women pilots. she went for training in texas. >> i was just really excited, because i was going to get to fly. >> during the war, they shuttled bombers and fighters around the country and flew transport. when they started, flying was still a man's word. even the flight suits were for men. >> you went in and picked one out and hopefully they fit you ok. they were too long in the legs, too big in the middle and you just rolled them or did whatever you needed to do and wore them. >> the training was difficult. >> one of the things we had to do before we could solo. they would blindfold us.

>> it turned out women could fly. she learned on the at6 trainer. >> i did the wing overs, the spins. it was just a beautiful airplane to do it. >> it never occurred to me that it would be dangerous. >> it was dangerous. of just over 1,000 women who became pilots, 38 died in accidents. after the war, she had a family and never flew again, but new year's day, aboard this float, commemorating the wasps, she will be in parade dress. >> i will wear my wings, my wings will be on. i will wear my store. to me, those two things take it this is who i am.

>> this is the moment, the moment of recognition for her, for several other women who will ride in the rose parade and for all the wasps that are gone now. >> this is a big deal for me. i think the appreciation that the people need to know that we were there. i'm living proof of that, that women did fly in war. >> new year's day, she'll be flying high once more. >> those women who served as air force pilots in world war ii flew over 60 million miles in each and every type of aircraft known to man. >> a new york native is going to help bring in the new year, the bronx native joining the hycort in 2009 is one of four justices on the court from new york city. one fixture by the way at the ball drop, the out going mayor michael bloomberg will not be there, not participating north first time in 11 years. he said he will celebrate

ringing in the new year with family and friends. >> aljazeera news continues in just two and a half minutes with more headlines. a reminder, you can check us out 24 hours a day at aljazeera.com where the news continues 24/7.