>> hello, and welcome to aljazeera america. going back to court to try to keep a girl on life support. doctors say that a routine procedure left her braindead. twin attacks in russia, six weeks before that country hosts the winter olympics. home after 20 years in jail. a mixed message coming from the middle east. and a flu outbreak, doctors are worried.

>> we begin tonight with an 11th hour move to keep a california teenager on life support. she became braindead after getting her tonsils removed. but her family insists that she's still live. they were going to pull the plug tonight. but it's a possible victory for her family. melissa, i know there has been a lot of movement this evening, and what's happening now. >> well, jonathan, this is incredible. this is a situation where you have a hospital who has considered ja har dead for a number of weeks, and they look at it as a corpse, and the family is taking it to the courts and making it a much bigger legal battle. this is what the uncle of jahai has to say.

>> she moves when her mother touches her and speaks. and we have an attorney who has sworn that she's not dead. we have a filth that has agreedd to take her. and we have a doctor here in california who will be by her side throughout the transfer. we have informed the defendants and provided them with documentation of the same sworn agendas. >> what's really incredible, moments afterwards, jahai's mother came out to speak, and she's very emotional and defiant and says that she's going to speak fight for the very end. >> my daughter's life, [ unintelligible ] every hour, i just thank god, give us one more day, please. >> she's responding, and i go in there and talk to her, and i

say, hey, jahai, you need to start moving, because you know what this hospital is trying to do to you. and she gets to moving fast. and it scared me the first time. but she's doing it more and more every day. and just to let people know we're not making it up. >> well, jonathan, it is an incredible situation that we have here. a hospital and three rounds of medical examinations that determined that jahai is braindead. and explaining to viewers, a lot of people are looking at this case and think that she's in a coma. when someone is in a coma, there's still neural activity in the brain. and when someone is braindead, there's no neural activity. and that's the medical consensus that she's deceased. >> if the family says that this little girl is moving, how are the doctors explaining that? >> well, one thing is that they

say that she's on life support right now, so there are automatic responses that the body would do, and that includes movement. and what's really confusing, we had it explained, when someone is on life support, even if they are braindead, they are warm to the touch and they look alive. and this goes with the fundamental notion of death. the medical and legal community have a different definition of death. brain dead is death in every single state of the country. and that's something that the legal community agrees on at the national level. >> okay, our melissa chan live in oakland, california tonight. thank you. now to growing fears in russia. just 38 days to the start of the winter olympics in sochi. two deadly bombings have rocked that country.

muslim separatists have launched a new wave of attacks. the city of volgograd, 400 miles north of sochi, people were killed and hurt on a suicide bombing on a bus. and yesterday, 17 people died at a train attack at a station. there are possible suspects, and we'll start in volgograd, with more reaction this. >> talk to the people of volgograd, and you pick up a sense of anger, a sense of fear and a sense of frustration. in the past 24 hours, this city of 1 million people has lost more than 30 people killed and more than 100 injured. many of them seriously. some of them children. people are angry. they feel let down by the social servants, by the police, by the security forces. they feel not enough has been

done to protect them, to protect their families. the city is all but closed down. there's no longer any faith in local transportation serves, the trollies still run, and they wrap around this whole city, virtually empty. and today, on monday, about 400 local people gathered to protest what has happened here over the last 24 hours. and the police cleared them off, saying that their presence is just another target for people carrying out these bombings. >> russian authorities have not named a suspect, but likely, it's a chechen field commander who has made a career to break chechnya away from russia to form it's own islamic state. he called for new violence and called a moratorium on attacks inside of russia. in just a moment, we'll have john terry with more on these

attacks in russia. >> awarded to the city of soch. >> the fears that volgograd could disrupt the games. sochi is 400 miles from volgograd. the site is near the troubled north region, and within that, the so-called chechen conflict is a decade-long battle between the russian authorities and soviates and national and islamic forces. the hallmark is the separatist attacks. 400 people died, including 200 children. carried out by chechen

separatists, but suck ways and airports have been bombed too, and the leader of the fighters has called for a tax to increase in russia, including on the gangs. the latest bombings are a pr disaster for president putin, who has a huge stake in making the games a display on how far russia has come from the fall of the soviet empire. sochi and other key cities will be sealed. >> they already have a huge concentration of security forces in sochi. people have to go through really inconvenient metal detectors in the games. only people can come in with government passes that have been preapproved, so it will be impossible for anybody on the list to get in, and that's about the best they can do. >> the russians have established a 15-mile security site around the games. thousands of surveillance

cameras are being signaled and there will be ex -- installed, and though the games are likely to be safe, ordinary russians outside of the security areas are right to be scared. >> russia is a huge geographical space, and it's in the midst, and there's no way that all of russia can be protected, and it's especially problematic for russia because the security forces are corrupt. >> raising fears that the security forces can be bought off. in sochi, and a worry for president putin as he tries to keep the rest of his country safe. >> and john is here with us now, and the united states is offering support today. >> they are. this is so much about prestige and money, and it's looking to be a shop window, so people can look at russia and say, well, whatever you thought about the soviet union, or us as a single

entity country since the soviet union went away, it has all changed. >> this is the most expensive olympic games in history. >> an incredible amount of money but this is from the security angle, from the national security council in the white house, and it goes like this: you know, it's interesting, they can't agree over the issue of syria, but when it comes to this kind of thing, the offer is there, and whether russia will take them up is another matter. probably covert operations behind the scenes quite likely. but there are a lot of troops and equipment in sochi, trying to make sure that this event

goes off without a hitch. >> russia has pretty much sealed off that city. >> it has. you need a passport to get in. it is a radius around the games, where people last name be let in unless they have the documentation. but the real worry is not the games, or the key cities where the athletes will go. it's pretty much everywhere else in russia, it's so vast that you can't keep all of people safe and that's a real worry. >> let's talk about him. he served as a security advisers at the atlanta and it salt lake city and barcelona olympics, and jeff, thank you for being here. the big question tonight everyone is asking, do you think that the olympics will be safe? >> well, president putin is facing a challenge unlike anybody else has faced when they're trying to host an olympics. it's not like atlanta, it's not like when you have only one or

two people that you have to worry about. a lone wolf situation, it's not like australia where you have oceans protecting and you making it difficult for people to get this. here, we have a group of insurgents that have conducted operations not using one or two people, but upwards of 20 people, and upwards of 20 and 14 casualties, but hundreds of casualties in their operations. so he has only got a landmass to contend with. people can avoid the roads, these people are insurgents, and they can walk. i mean, are you going to link people arm and arm? i had the opportunity when i was in the service to see an effective barrier, and that happened to be the fence between east and west germany. unless you put up a fence like that around sochi all the way, you're dealing with insurgents used to dealing with mountainous train, and we can take solas in

the fact that there's tremendous security deployed, i'm not certain that sochi will be unscathed in these olympics. it's a way for athletes to showcase themes but also a way for terrorists to showcase themselves and that's the stakes. >> we have heard everything that russia has done, and they can't build a wag, but what could russia do to try to make the games more secure. >> i think that they're doing everything that they could possibly do. and one thing, they telegraphed if you will, a potential punch that they may yet deliver. there's a saying that you can't win on defense. you have to win on offense. so i would suspect, particularly when we have had chechen leadership in the recent days saying that umeroff will be eliminated before the olympics, and the russians will use these horrible terrorist attacks in

the last days, they will use that as a rationale to conduct serious offensive operations and very disruptive operations to try to keep these insurgents back on their heels and try to disorganize them for any large scale attacks. >> do you think that putin knew how dangerous this would be? >> that's a particular subject. i think that they have made brilliant choices in potential cities, and i would like to say, and me again in seven or eight weeks. the potential is to have a great olympic experience, but it's a challenge like none other for security. and i think that no matter the outcome, even if it's successful in preventing a terrorist attack, when you look at the costs of security, the ios may

modify the security component. and not put something so close to an insurgency where people can simply walk to the olympics, avoid detection is can have the potential to do great harm. >> as we mentioned, the most expensive olympics ever. thank you for your time tonight. and joy and disgust in israel as another group of palestinian prisoners is being set free after spending almost three decades behind bars. peace negotiations between israelis and palestinians. nick has more on this. >> reporter: hey, jonathan. around me is absolutely joy. you talk about some of the discussions in israel. but before that, you see amazing reunions. around me, i see dragged on shoulder, and hailed as heroes. you have to understand how

emotional and important this is for palestinians. a long time ago, 15 years ago, israel promised to release these prisoners, and at this point, some of these people haven't seen their family members, or loved ones for 28 years, and this is also a political victory for the palestinian authority. president mahmoud abbas has been criticized, and he said these are the tangible results of these talks. all of these prisoners who have been in israel jails, we're going to pan over, some of these scenes, we see people crying, and we see people very emotional at these reunions in hamala tonight. >> live from hamala. and the pictures are tu are stu, without question. >> a team of journalists in

egypt in cairo yesterday. two producers, and a cameraman, when what they call illegal meetings with the muslim brotherhood. the last day of 2013 is stormy for parts of australia. cyclone christine, a category 3 storm, began making landfall overnight. it's got winds of up to 125 miles per hour. and it threatens some of the world's largest iron ore mines and shipping ports. people have been told to stay home until the storm passes. kevin has a look at the weather tonight. >> here's a look at google earth. and you can see the storm as it made landfall in western australia. you will see a lot of cyclones

here in the indian ocean, affecting parts of madagascar as well. we're going to be watching it because it's going to be weakening over land. as jonathan mentioned, the iron ore mines, flooding, and the population is dense in this area. less than one person per ten square kilometers across this region, so it's not really an issue in terms of population density. i want to take you over here to parts of south america. to buenos aires. they have seen 93° fahrenheit. they're dealing with a problem with power like we were in the northern parts of the united states. because of power outages. this woman was banging on her pots and pans, and the kids are loving t. and they can get out of school and dealing with

better weather in terms of the fountains there. but as you see, up to the north, we're looking at temperatures in fargo, -12. and that's about 100° colder than it is in buenos ares. the u.s. population is expected to to 317 million people on january 1st, and where they're all going. and plus, fighting for his life, racing great, michael schumacher, is in critical condition after being injured in a skiing accident.

>> the state of new york has more people than florida, but not for long. according to new census data, florida is quickly catching up. it's about to be the country's third most populated state. >> reporter: living in the miami area, the shastas are

still a plane ride close enough to visit their new york family, but far south enough to leave those dreary winters behind. >> i hated the cold. and at first, it was kind of a fantasy. but then, after going back and forth for a while, we decided to go for it. >> that was six years ago. 30 some things found jobs and moved and they started a family and moved blocks away from the beach. >> in florida, a lot of other people have also, and starting to get culture. it's not just strip malls and retirees anymore. >> census data shows that they're emblematic of the people moving to the sunshine state. it's the third largest in the country. most of the rivals are in their 20s and 30s and are migrating from other states. this is part of a long pattern

of growth. population has doubled since 1970. >> florida is a nice combination of obviously weather and the cultural amenities that go along with a tourist based economy. a very friendly tax position, in that we don't have a state income tax, and we don't have an estate tax. >> but the primary reason that people move to florida is for jobs. tourism and construction. the shastas still center their same mobile numbers, but they will never return to that frenetic. >> the rat race, it was rough when i do it every day, and all the time in the subways and the buses. people are ruder and here it's a lot easier. >> experts say that there's no indication that florida's

population will recede any time soon, and that will bring challenges, but for now, people of all ages are longing for the life that has long kept retirees flocking to florida. >> 2014 could mean big changes to people living on the first ff the economy. 13 states will raise their minimum wages, including washington and oregon. they will be paid $9 an hour. and americans still struggling to find work are facing new challenges. 1.3 million people will start the year without unemployment benefits. and that's forcing people to make tough choices. >> i don't think that the ending of the emergency benefits program is going to wind up costing more money in the long run. i think that folks have taken jobs that they wouldn't have taken in the past. for some people, that's a good decision, and for other people, it may not be.

>> and according to the labor department, most people who were able to find work in 2013 ended up working in the food sector. it's a type that typically pays low wages. travelers won't be able to carry it at the airport. denver will be the first public location to ban marijuana. the airport rule will go into effect in early january to try to fight transporting the drug across state lines. and from denver to new hampshire, where state lawmakers are expected to vote next month on whether to legalize up to an ounce of marijuana. it would allow people to grow up to six marijuana plants. some say it would be difficult to regulate. preparing for flu season. for young adults, it could be worse for them. and cutting crime. it's not just police work anymore.

>> welcome back to aljazeera america. i'm jonathan betz, and here are the stop stories this hour. russia has been rocked with two suicide bombings in as many days. ramping up security in sochi, and no suspects have manage named but they suspect separatists. >> . >> 26 former inmates were greeted by palestinian president, mahmoud abbas. they hope -- a 13-year-old girl declared braindead in california is being kept alive a little bit longer. the hospital will extend life support until january 7th. the hospital originally planned to pull the plug earlier tonight. new york city will reach an all-time low in murders this year. the mayor calls it a victory for

their sometimes controversial policies. the police are not alone in trying to stop the violence. ♪ oh, say can you see >> new york's finest and newest. these 1171 graduating police officers are ready for the streets, and they're safer than other. >> you compare this decade to the previous era's murder rate, we can say that we have saved 9,200 lives in the last 12 years. >> there were 2300 homicides in 2013. down, shootings down 32% in the same period. commissioner, ray kelly, says because of zero tolerance and operation crew cut, which targets certain people. >> focusing police attention on those hot people and groups and

gangs turns out to be very effective. >> but in brownsville, there's a different way of thinking. this is one of new york's most violent neighborhoods. he used to run with a crew called the bloods. >> i loved violence, and i was looking forward to it. every day i got up and any way of being violent, i got into it. >> he served 15 years in prison for several crimes, and then he got out and got clean and got married. now he works with community leaders to stop boys from gang violence. >> going out here daily to talk to these communities, to these mothers and to these children, up in these schools. >> their one-year-old boy was shot dead in brownsville three months ago, and the nypd had no leads, but within a few hours,

locals led them to the shooter. this is known as the belly of the bait. it's surrounded by at least seven different housing develop the, and a lot of street crews in and around the area. the animosity is so strong, if you are on the wrong side of the street, you are in trouble, and relentless violence is called occupy the corners. community leaders stand on the streets until 2 a.m. and break up confrontations. the nypd are not the only ones to be congratulated over the impressive crime statistics. >> they're also improving statistics when it comes to the amount of deaths among law enforcement officers this year. the amount of law enforcement officers killed by firearms this year is the lowest since 1987. the memorial fund shows that deaths of officers in the line of duty fell by 8%, the fewest

since 1989. they credit it to bulletproof vests and seatbelts. >> . >> according to the center for disease control, there's going to be a big jump in flu cases in the next few weeks. 30 million americans caught the flu last season. there are widespread cases reported in at least ten states, mainly in the northeast and south. and by the same time last year, it was much worse. 31 states reported widespread cases, and there's hope that this year it won't be quite as bad as last. she's an assistant professor at new york medical school. and doctor, how bad do you think that it's going to get this year? >> hi, jonathan, it's difficult in december. but we're concerned that swine flu, which wasn't as predominant last year is here this year.

and it's found in pigs, and humans don't have a lot of adaptations to fight it. and the fact that it's prevalent is a concern. if it spreads quickly, it can be deadly. >> the last time we saw the swine through was back in 2009, and hundreds of people died, including children, and is there a fear among the medical communities that this could be a repeat that we saw four or five years ago? >> there is some concern. but the flu vaccine includes swine protection as well. that's the best protection. there are different brands of the vaccine. if you go to get it, you have to make sure that you have the swine flu contained in there. >> that's different than what we saw in 2009, correct? >> we weren't ready for it. and we didn't expect it to spread from pigs to humans, so

that's the difference this year. we have to keep in mind, the flu is starting to peak, and it's gaining momentum. but in the past, flu season was peaking in january or february, and this is a little bit more worry some. >> is it too late to get vaccinated? >> it's not too late. if you get the vaccine, people get the concerns, they think that they might get sick from the vaccine and might catch the flu, but there's no danger of that. it doesn't contain the live virus, it contains the components of the virus so your body can fight against it. ed reason that people usually get worried, they might have already been exposed to the flu. so typically, when you get exposed to the new and you get infected, it doesn't appear all of a sudden. there's usually a period of days or maybe a couple of weeks where it's lingering before it takes hold.

so if you get the vaccine at the time you may get sick because it can't help you. but it doesn't mean that it made you sick. but if you get the vaccine, you may still get the flu, but the more people that get the vaccine, the more likely that you and everybody else will be protected. >> a lot of people obviously know that the flu affects the wrung and the elderly. but it seems that this year, healthy young adults are also at risk. >> well, there are two different ways to think good the flu. the swine flu and the regular flu. typically, with the regular flu, that affects people who are very young or very old because their imunit tends to be worse. with the swine flu, it affects young adults and middle-aged americans, and the reason for that, we're not sure, but as people get older, 50 or 60, they may have developed some immunity

to other viruses that might be similar to swine flu, but if you're very young, generally, you could be at risk for both types of viruses. so the cdc recommends that if you're six months or old, you should get the vaccine. >> all right, thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you. >> drones could be making a big move from military to mainstream. study the federal aviation named six states that will test drones for commercial use. the decision is welcome to some, but raising concerns for others. >> from the battlefield to the skies across america, drones are on the move. supporters say their uses are evolving from military to more down-to-earth tasks. like farming, law enforcement and energy services. >> what we have designed this particular one for is unmanned search and rescue.

if you have a hiker lost in the woods, this one will fly around in a search pattern, given the terrain and the area. >> reporter: it has that revolution that has prompted the faa to give six states the green light to test mish use. washington pushed for drones. in 2012, congress passed a law with the faa to provide commercial and privately owned drops access to u.s. airspace by 2015. and that could also mean thousands of new jobs. states including new york, nevada, texas, and eac even alaa will work with groups for an international airport, and university of texas is one. they will conduct tests for risk with drones. >> the type of research we see

here is for the betterment of mankind. it's not to spy on people in people's backyards. >> but that's the concerns that has the american civil liberties union that has them concerned. >> drones will be commonplace across the country, and that's why we think that it's important that congress passes legislation putting privacy guidelines in place. drones will be throughout the united states, we think it's important that there be a strong national uniform in place for privacy. >> so these sights are beginning, as america looks for its future with drones. >> it is professional football black monday. the professional season is now over, and team members spent the day unloading coaches.

mike shanahan, and detroit lion's jim schwartz, and also, minnesota vikings' leslie fraser, after winning just five games, and in tampa bay, a four win seasoning got greg sheehano fired. greg kaczinski got choked up when he was hired. michael schumacher remains in a medically induced coma this morning. he was injured in a skiing accident in the french alps. the doctors can't predict the outcome. >> he battled his way to the top of the formula one circuit. and now michael schumacher is fighting for his life. he was skiing with his family in france when he fell and hit his head on a rock. doctors say that schumacher

suffered bleed on the brain, and if he had not been wearing a helmet he would have been far worse. they put him in a medical induced coma. >> all of the treatments are being applied, but right now, we can't predict what the outcome will be for him. >> fans and fellow racecar drivers around the world have sent wishes for schumacher's speedy recovery. >> he's a great family man, and he's a hugely successful racing driver, well retired now, but he still had the bug for excitement, for almost danger in a way, because he's motorcycle riding, his parachuting and skiing, so it's sad to hear that something has happened. >> he was a very good friend. >> in schumacher's hometown in germany, fans are in shock. >> he's a former formula one

world star, and everyone knows that. what happened is tragic. >> having been a racing driver, one expects a serious accident like this to happen on the race track, but it's hard to happen that something like this can happen while on vacation. >> reporter: schumacher is the most successful form lar one driver of all time. with a career that spanned two decades, and his former teammates are hoping that that success will help him pull through this ordeal. >> and another big name in the world of sports is recovering tonight. with devastating injuries suffered over the weekend. and we have more on this. that was hard to watch. >> i don't want to watch it again. that was not a pleasant sight. i got to tell you. on rare occasions, the super human athletes are proving to be just as breakable as the rest of

us. 168, where superstar, anderson silva, aerial saw it live. and it was hard to see for a saturday night in vegas. >> it was a somber scene. it was very strange to be there. and it almost felt like a funeral. here because chris wide man, for the second time in six mocks, and it was supposed to be his coronation, and all anyone could think of is how anderson is doing. this is like our michael jordan. this is him in a very serious state, suffering a very serious injury. i was backstage, taking in the sounds of it all and he went by us, being loaded into an ambulance, and i won't forget the shrieks coming out of him.

it sounded like a horror film. home run anderson silva, who had been invincible all of these years, he, in that state, was hard to see. >> when he had surgery hours after the injury, and it lasted approximately an hour in a las vegas hospital. and his doctor who performed the surgery, dr. steven sanders, held a conference car, and he said all things considered, he's doing quite well. he suffered a broken tibia in his leg, and he didn't need surgery on the broken fibula, and they think that he's need six months to heal. and the first question, he asked, post on, when can i start training again? it leads us to believe that this guy doesn't want to go out this

way. they're happy with his progress, but for the next few days, he's going to remain in the hospital. >> it sounds like you think silva might come back. >> i would have said this is it, 38 years old and he has lost to the champion twice, and he has to not only climb that mountain, but now, after listening to his doctors, they have their champions, and it takes a lot to good through the sport. but to go through it without losing, i don't think he wants -- this is me speculating and talking to the people around him, i don't think that he wants his image to be that. so right now, i'm starting to change my mind a bit. and we'll start to see him in the future. that would be absolutely remarkable if that happens. >> how important do you think that silva's recovery would be?

if it's someone who can't come back? chris wideman. >> georges st. pierre walked away from the sport, at least for now, relinquished his belt. and they have injuries, and they have the situation where stars are trying to be made but not at the level of silva. he's a huge mega star, especially in brazil. and it would be a big deal for him to be back, but right now, they're in a state of transix. they need big stars, and they might go through the first half of 2014 without him. >> silva hold the longest winning streak in u.s. history. he lost to the man who broke his leg on saturday. >> that was so hard to see, and it's interesting to hear him say he wants to get back on the mat. >> it's what he knows, and it's not surprising that he would like to make one last try. >> after such an injury though.

yet another set back for passengers stranded on the ship off of the coast of antarctica. they were hoping that the australian ice breaker would rescue them today. but the ice was ten feet thick, and that's the third rescue attempt. those onboard the russian ship are in good health and have enough food to last several weeks. joey is standing by to tell us what's coming up at the top of the hour. >> coming up tonight on our program, party of one. with new year's eve around the corner, what's it like to hunt for love online? online dating is growing more and more popular, and it's a lucrative industry. so popular it might make you think that there really are plenty of fish in the sea. so we headed to los angeles to chat with a group of

professional singles to share their stories and tips online. and then we're going to meet a man who puts a price on all of it. he claims that he knows how women can find the perfect online match. >> your profile should be about you, but what's the person who is reading it thinking it? so you quit your job to protest human rights of violations and moved to tibet. once we can illustrate what our partner gets out of it, we make ourselves stand out from the crowd, simply because nobody does this. >> some really interesting advice. love on the line. that's coming up at the top of the hour, here on america tonight. see you then, adam. and coping with the influx of refugees.

>> we're looking at very wet weather down to the south. and let's look from texas to the florida panhandle, showers. and they will be at the coast and begin to edge away. many people will be getting clearer as we go to the end of the day tomorrow. a few toward the north. and the snow showers stay. they're not going to leave much in terms of accumulation, but pushing minnesota and iowa right now. so they could cause problems on the roads, making them more

slippery. but in terms of one or two inches there. temperatures tomorrow morning are going to be cold for many locations. fargo, -26 in minneapolis. and the showers will extend all the way up from iowa all the way to chicago. so if you're doing anything else, and i don't think you will. in chicago, it's going to be quite a snowy day. here's the forecast for the new years. we're looking at chicago. and the temperature for you is going to be in the mid-teens. 70% snow there. and st. louis, a clear evening, and the temperatures will be hovering around freezing there. >> you didn't tell us that, you're right, it's not happening. >> i feel good. >> really? >> no, not really.

>> now to syria, where the civil war is spilling into neighboring countries, and lebanon, for the first time, they have fired on syrian war planes crossing the border, and in the south, countries can't

handle the refugees of. >> syrians crossing into jordan. with now more than half a million refugees on its soil, jordan is one of the countries most affected by them. it's hard to cope. and now jordan gets a chance to influence international policy. the foreign minister spoke to me as the country man's to take up one of the rotating seats on the u.n. security council. >> i think it would give us a very, very important forum, where we can highlight the suffering of the syrian refugees, and the burden shouldered by the neighboring countries. particularly we're going to be a voice of reason, and a voice representing the international community at large. >> for almost three years, the security council has been divided on sirria on one side of the argument,

france, uk and the u.s., and the other side, russia. jordan is likely to use its seat at the security council table to make is clear that such stale mates and deadlocks are only prolonging the crisis. the king of jordan was the first arab leader to call on syria's president hasad to stand dand, but jordan is increasingly worried about some of the groups forcing the opposition against the hasad regime. >> some of those groups may get to jordan. jordan is a fragile country, and there's so much interest in jordan to keep those groups out of its borders and to monitor exactly who is coming in and who is coming out of the country. >> jord wasn't supposed to be on

the security council. saudi arabia was elected and turned down the protest. syria, you shouldn't expect such strong from the jordanians. their ambassador served at the u.n. twice for a total of ten years. experts expect him to work quietly behind the scenes in an effort to influence all of his colleagues on the security council. >> still ahead, one of the biggest medical breakthroughs this year. the bionic eye helping the blind to see.

>> new technologies helping blind people see again. the science behind the artificial retina. >> dean lloyd, an attorney in palo alto, california, lost his sight 30 years ago, and then in 2007, he got it back, at least in part. >> a point of light that i hadn't seen in a long time. so it had some exciting affects, but how useful it was going to be for me was a different issue

and different concern. >> lloyd volunteered for a clinical trial and was one of the first recipients of an artificial rettia. approved by the food and drug administration, the device just went on sale in 20 cities. the implant is on a pair of glasses, it stimulates the back of the eye, presenting a low resolution sketch of the world. it's not true sight the way people experience t but it highlights points of contrast and makes it possible to draw the objects. >> so i'm getting up a flight of stairs, some kind of foliage. that's right, it has to be a contrast point, and you have to think about that to make it useful. >> the device is improved for treating retinite is, pigmentosa. a condition aving is million

americans. he runs the company that sells it, and he said the next is to move the implant off of the wry and into the back of the head. >> where the optic nerve is damaged, if we go to the next step, we should be able to restore some level of vision in those patients as well. >> the timey implant requires implant under a microscope, which drives the price to 1 had a thousand dollars, and only a few insurance companies will cover it so far. they have to reveal this test, which replicates the warm, wet, salty conditions of the eye. it's only graded for five years, so it's a question of how long this remotely powered combination of titanium and silicone can be in the body

before its replaced. >> it requires practice. >> you have to take this low resolution image and you have to scan around in order to get the entire picture. >> dr. humia said that they have already developed a prototype that can be mounted in the eye and develop a high resolution image. >> we don't have it in hand. so it's more of a frame. and what we're talking about is more like a plane. >> it may not have changed lloyd's world, but it has given him a sense of it. >> i think probably six, seven -- you're a tall person. definitely tall. >> a blurry pixel rue is primitive, but especially by directly replacing the retina is a milestone in the effort to understand and improve the human

body. jacob ward, aljazeera, palo alto, california. >> stunning technology there. and although the fda has given its approval, it still has to have the go ahead from the federal communications division, because an implant contains a radio device. and they expect that next month. coming up on aljazeera aljaa america, saving patients from head trauma. michael issue machish, the technology that's saving live. and plus, a photo bomb off of a california beach that has so many people talking. what could that mystery creature be in that wave in these stories tonight and the top headlines in just a moment.

>> welcome to al jazeera america. i'm jonathan betz with tonight's headlines. 13-year-old jaich mcmath will get another week on life support at the california hospital. her family filed an emergency injunction to stop the hospital from taking her off life support. explosions after two trains collide he in north dakota. a train carrying crude oil crashed into a train derailed on the tracks. the faa has named six states across the country that will test drones for commercial use. the sites are a part of