that's for sure. that's the news. the headlines are up next. welcome to al jazeera america. i'm jonathan betz with tonight's top stories. 13-year-old jahi mcmath will get another week on life support. her family filed an injunction to stop the hospital from taking her off life support. the city of volgograd has been hit with two terrorist attacks. >> palestinian president michellmahmoudabbas greeted reld

prisoners. another day at sea. the group of 74 explorers were hoping an australian ice breaker would rescue them today but that ship could not pile through the 13 miles of ice. helicopters will evacuate the passengers and crew once the weather clears. that's the news. you can always find us online, go to aljazeera.com.

consider this: the news of the day plus so much more. >> we begin with the government shutdown. >> answers to the questions no one else will ask. >> it seems like they can't agree to anything in washington no matter what. >> antonio mora, award winning and hard hitting. >> we've heard you talk about the history of suicide in your family. >> there's no status quo, just the bottom line. >> but, what about buying shares in a professional athlete?

>> on high alert tonight following a second deadly terror attack in two days. the latest attack happened monday morning on a packed bus during the height of the morning commute. at least 14 people were killed, more than two dozen were injured. both suicide attacks happened in the city of volgograd, formerly known as stalin grad. before the 2014 winter olympics in sochi. , as many as two terror attacks in as many days, the attacks

linked, devices used in both explosions were similar, police calling them acts of terror. both attacks targeted transportation. monday's attack tore through a trolley bus killing 14 people and wounding 28 others. the day before, surveillance cameras captured an explosion inside volgograd's main holiday station, 17 people were killed in an attack by a suspected female suicide bomber. volgograd, a city of about 1 million is a major transport hub in southern russia, traveling 400 miles to and from sochi, host of the 2014 winter olympics scheduled to start in february. for residents of volgograd the attacks have put a damp er on the holiday season. >> we were already prepared and look at what's happening, happening in the second time in

a row. the new year won't be better after that for sure. >> i think of the people here no one will tell you they feel safe. a lot has been promised but little has been done. >> on friday a car bomb in a southern city some 170 miles from sochi left three people dead. so far no one has claimed responsibility for the attacks but suspicion has fallen on separatists from russia's northern caucasus region. earlier this year a chechen leader called for attacks on civilian locations in russia. putin and medvedev met monday. >> a state of emergency was introduced in volgograd. so all the emergency services are working in this area. the whole emergency emergencies

has been put on high alert. >> condemned the attack and stood with the russian people against terrorism. would welcome closer cooperation for the safety of athletes and others at the games. the international olympic committee also issued a statement expressing its confidence in russia to deliver safe and secure games. now russian president vladimir putin has promised the safest olympic games in history but these attacks are certainly raising some concerns. earl southers, tal global corporation joining us from los angeles, thank you for joining us. are the olympics at risk? >> well the olympics are certainly going to be a target and a concern. you have few events that occur in the world on a regular basis where almost every country that

has a team is present and what you have in this situation is a threat that's been articulated by separatists and in the last several days they have demonstrated their capacity in being successful carrying out these attacks having two successive bombings two days in a row. >> what shrugs officials be doing right now? >> they are trying to if you will calm the fears, those comments are very telling, they will be interviewing people who saw things. they will be talking about putting in more harsh or more restrictive security measures. understand that the bus security wasn't quite as strict as it could have been. they engaged in asking people for identification when they purchased tickets recently but it was somewhat lax. so you can imagine that they will be looking for people to buy tickets with i.d. you have a country where bulky clothing is very common because of the weather, those kinds of

obstacles to overcome. background. what are the challenges that they face? >> well, when i was in china and i traveled to beijing, shanghai and chengdou, we examined devices for trains. but the through put is always a chance. the olympics in 2016, we have the same challenges however the technology has changed. there is a company out there now, where you can exeal place a bag intshe -- actually place a bag in a device and it will scan for everything and it is being used. the technology is good. the other thing we are looking for is people who are trained to do certain things and look for certain things. there was a bus bombing several weeks ago in israel.

when a package was on the seat, someone saw it, they evacuated the bus and as a result no one was killed. proper technology and procedures will be very important in detecting and deterring future attacks. >> what you have with these events is you have to have a point of entry, where there is security, and then lines go through and there is security. how do you guarantee security on the other side of those checkpoints? isn't that one of the big concerns? >> adam, that is a big concern, to your point i look at the attack that just happened in russia, they had logistics in place, they must have planned an attack route, they had to know that a metal detector was there. was the intent in fact to take out the screening station and along with it the security personnel? we have a bigger concern in

concentric circles outside the target itself, as people stand in queues, thi queues. concentric rings greater distances than you think from where the event is going to take place. >> because this is happening in russia any special security concerns there? >> i think the only special consideration is we will be traveling there, our teams will be going there, people from around the world will be attending, tourists may not be dissuaded from it, but intelligence agencies will be sharing information to try to deter these in future. >> errol southers thank you for joining us. >> thank you sir. >> before the world cup kicks

off in re oh, authorities are trying to clean up shanty towns known as favelas. as al jazeera's rachel levin reports, critics say any success have come at a cost. >> heavily armed brazilian elite security services, attempting to gain control of poor communities in rio, ruled by drug lords the for decades, called passive reunification, world cup and olympics are coming. but after the military operation a hard partly for people like captain marciel rocha. >> 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

quickly and so is the number of violence crimes. but the tactics of the pacification police are increasingly being questioned as more questions emerge of unarmed people being killed i or abducted and some places police have only limited access. this is a community that has yet to be passified by the police and under the control of a criminal gain which conducts their illegal activities out in the open. every day people line up to buy drugs. cocaine, meth and marijuana are sold on the corner guarded by armed men who block off the streets. the traffickers say the police only show up to arrest people but never stay for long. >> translator: there are more police here which makes it tougher for us to work. most of them earn money from this as well and we just end up getting pushed back. >> reporter: by the time the world cup final is held in rio,

officials are hoping to have 40 communities that have permanent police presence. a fraction of the nearly 900 favelas in the city. >> there is no question that the problem has been very selective and it is oriented towards certain projects for the city which is to turn prdge rio de janeiro into an international tourist tick country. >> once the sporting evens are over, he says he's not going anywhere. rachel levin, al jazeera, rio de janeiro. >> well, 25 police officers have been charged with the torture and murder of a favela resident but city officials in rio insists the quality of life there is improving, pointing to sharply increased test scores from students in the subject area. corming down with something chronic.

>> the first time we met jennifer brea, she is on the floor of her bedroom. she's just taken a shower the first time. brushing her teeth, is exhausting. >> about this disease, how much it takes away from you and how so many of the basic things that make one feel like a human being just become impossible. >> women suffered four times the rate of men. it cuts across all races and economic groups. 30 years after the disease was first discovered in the u.s. there is still no single diagnostic test or treatment. >> some are mildly ill, some are profoundly ill, can't get out of their bed or leave their home. >> "america tonight"'s sheila

macvicar meets one woman fighting it. and still ahead, love sick, trying to find the cure, the lost love online. >> i can go on five days a week, you don't have time for that. >> i want to decide what i want. i don't want to be chosen, i 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.

>> now, a snapshot of stories making headlines ear on "america tonight". seems like al qaeda takes its accounting pretty seriously. nearly 100 receipts, apparently al qaeda keeps track of each and every receipt to govern its organization around the world. alaska, north dakota, nebraska, virginia , new jersey,

to share the skies with airplanes, by the year 2013. geography, climate and the use of air space were among the factors to select those test sites. it's going to be a supreme count downtown justice sonia soto mayor will be leading the ball drop in times square. speaking of new york, it wasn't so long ago that that city was one of the most violent places in the world. murder, muggings, stabbing and rapes, were pretty much common and city leaders had run out of ideas. in 2013 new york's homicide and shooting statistics were the lowest on record. mayor michael bloomberg and his police commissioner have taken a lot of the credit but community leaders see it different. cath turner reports.

♪ >> reporter: new york's finest and newest. these 1171 graduating police officers are ready for the ever. >> if you compare this decade to the previous murder rate we can literally say we have saved more than 9200 liefs in the last two years. >> up until last su sunday there were 332 homicides in 2013 down from 2001, shootings down 32% in the same period. mayor bloomberg and his police chief ray kelly, because of operation crew cut, focuses on certain people. >> focusing on that those hot people and hot groups and gangs turns out to be very effectively. >> in brownsville this is a different way of thinking. this is one of new york's

most violent neighborhoods. shane duke mcfater used to run with the bloods. >> every way of being violent i got into it. >> served 15 years in prison for several crimes, then he got out, got clean and got married. trying to stop boys from getting into gang violence. >> who's really doing the work? the people in the community with slim to no finances, talking to these mothers, talking to these children growing up in these schools. >> when a one-year-old boy was shot dead in browns vil, the nyp nypd contacted him and within a few hours they had the shooter

in custody. the animosity between them is so strong if you wind up on the wrong side of the street you are walking into trouble. and the relentless violence here as inspired a concept called occupy the corners. community leaders standing on the streets until 2:00 a.m. and breaking up could be front takings before they escalate. in their eyes the nypd are not the only ones to be congratulated over the city's impressive crime statistics. cath turner, al jazeera new york. >> today a staple of the dating life, there's pretty much a flavor for everyone. does it work? has it simplified the process of meeting the perfect mate, in a mid summer night's dream shakespeare wrote, the course of true love never did run smooth. would online dating have changed his mind? [ chatter ]

>> they are vet rabs of online dating. -- veterans of online dating. a decade and a half after daten online went mainstream this group of singles have all been there, done that yet they can still be surprised by the experience. >> don't meet them quick. this is dating 101. so a dude will show up. >> i know later that he's a dude. >> has it happened before? >> you had a catfish issue. >> i learned another thing that women are professionals with angles. they can get like this. they can look all skinny and booty sticking out and when you see them they look like bubba smith. >> "america tonight" got together with these singles, and

they all say they are looking for love. love gets lost somewhere in the hollywood hills. so they're looking for it online. >> i think the men are lazy. they stop courting. they start having the initial leadership in a relationship. so i think they depend on us to be the one to send messages, to follow up, to chase. and i find that different in online dating. >> men don't know what to do. we thought we wanted that but old school way is you chase the girl down. >> but they don't -- >> like a cat chases a mouse. >> it's a $2 billion industry in the u.s. alone. the number of online dating sites more than 2500 and growing. the newest kid on the block is tinder. based on how close they are geographically. instantly say yes or no. >> it will show me who's nearby. this guy sam is nearby. >> he's gorgeous. >> there's limited judgment.

>> this is like instant judgment. >> online sites abound, like grinder aimed at gay hookups and people for the sexually transmitted disease herpes. >> and how about we, an online dating site committed to keeping married couples together. with 103 million singles competing for a first dplans, the competition can be -- glance, the competition can be stiff. >> it's a human shopping network. you're addicted to it. >> i could go on you know five days a day. you don't have time for that. >> i don't just sit back and wait. i want to decide what i want. i don't just want some -- i don't want to be chosen, i want to choose. >> according to a 2013 pew

research survey, 36% of people who are single and looking for a partner are looking online. 23% have met their spouse or long time partner through these sites. still for all the choices dating online or off can be tough. you might call it fickle love and one of the biggest issues: >> it is mistaking chemistry for compatibility. you go out with someone it feels right and the next thing you know you're picturing your entire future. this is the person that's going to save me from a life of loneliness. online dating is not the cause of that, it is people. this is people in memorial have acted this way. >> i've dealt with people who are 5'3, people in their 70s, people in wheelchairs. >> evan katz, is a specialist in dating and love.

>> offer three books on dating and relationships. >> he thinks most women get it wrong. >> they tend to say things that are agreeable, right? me too. you like skiing. i like skiing. you have a dog, i have a dog. >> you like pizza, i like pizza. >> you have two eyes? i have two eyes. the problem with that, it's not bad, it's just flat. >> what makes a good online datings profile? >> i'm so glad you ask. people list hobbies, adjectives, clee shaish. i'm successful, goal oriented. i'm looking for my best friend and love and partner in best in life and laughter. >> doesn't do much to differentiate. if everybody says some version of the same thing. the point is it has no power. >> katz advice, do a little reverse engineering.

instead of starting with yourself, start with what your potential date would find interesting and work forward from there. >> it's your profile. what is the person reading it thinking, you quit your job to protest living conditions in tibet. once we can tell stories and illustrate what our partner gets out of it. we make ourselves stand out from the crowd simply because nobody does this. and if you're a smart woman -- >> katz also insist that his clients broaden their search adding that the most successful career women make the mistake of only looking for a man just like them only better. >> where does that leave them? if these are women in the 95th percentile, that leaves them 5% to date. >> is there something that they're doing wrong?

>> the biggest question women had about men, what went wrong? he disappeared because he was the wrong guy. >> katz turns this into a lot of money. >> he loss a monthly conference call with 1,000 women online paying almost $50 each to ask his describes on handling dating and men. >> it seems like my options are nice, bore, or exciting jerk. >> all right sherry, lets say a guy says to you, my only options are the nice and boring chick or the hot and crazy chick. what do you say to him? >> he writes online profiles, has a professional take better pictures and then becomes their sounding board, critic and busy. >> come up with a story, using

verbs. >> one client halfway through his program, is kathy, she read katz' blog and was immediately looked. >> there's no way to go traditional, i didn't grow up here, i had no idea what i was doing. and even if i got a date, it would just really -- just walking in the darkness. >> what are you getting out of this $8,000 experience? what are you getting so far? >> he pushed me, i set up my profile after i went to talk to him. then he went to my profile and he said lina why the height between 5'8 and 6'1"? i'm going ochange it to the 5'7.

i went on a date with a 5'7 and fell in love! 8,000 wouldn't be a big number. >> perhaps katz best advice, go over quantity rather than quality. katz himself went on 300 online dates. he says singles should lower their standards to meet more possible dates. >> what percentage of men are 6'tall? long term values and wants kids? there are so many things that could get in the way. >> that same percentage is echoed by our own online experience. >> people want to find mr. right or mrs. right whatever, right away and it just doesn't happen. you have to meet as many people as you can in as little time as

you can and the probability goes up. >> as for evan katz he finally found his match in bridget. but he didn't meet her online. he met her at a party. she was a year older than his maximum online dating age criteria. and he was a different religion than she was looking for. >> so is there a lesson there to broadening your search? >> the thing i found out for my wife, i accidentally stepped into it, she wasn't what i was looking for, but i had the most fun with her and i could be my best self with her and i wasn't criticized or insecure. it was easy. my whole thing is relationships should be easy. if they're not easy they're not right. >> ahead on "america tonight", nearly four years after it was signed, obamacare or the affordable care act goes into effect wednesday. what you need to know and its impact on you.

>> every sunday night, al jazeera america presents... award winning films telling stories... >> she doesn't wanna come as someone who was manipulative. >> revealing secrets... >> information became our most powerful weapon... >> taking chances... >> everyone that was involved in the clandestant movement, had a code name. >> each week, a new eye opening experience. >> now they're going to go to jail... >> al jazeera america presents... remarkable documentaries new lights use low wattage led rights, neither harmful for the trees nor dangerous for the kids that may touch them. >> many play-off spots in the n.f.l. are still to be decided. mark morgan is here to explain it all. >> hey, a lot of anxiety in dallas, wondering what the dallas cowboys would do. tony romeo underwent back

surgery. kyle ortman will start quarterback in the eagles game. sher een williams of the fort worth star telegram weighs in. >> that lees this game in the hands of kyle orten, he made 69 starts. he's 35 and 34. but has not thrown a pass as a starter and only thrown 15 passes over the last two years. it takes the pressure off the cowboys. no doubt about that. they can go in, play loose and >> one million down, six more to go. that's if the obama administration intends to meet

its goal, before the open enrollment period ends in march. it's a tough couple of months for president obama's landmark legislation. more than 975,000 people signed up through healthcare.gov. that's seven times more than the number that signed up in october and november combined. but even though there is people signing up, there's plenty of confusion that happens on january 1st. even if you don't have insurance you are going to have a three month grace period to enroll. one thing that will take effect immediately after wednesday no insurer can deny coverage based on preexisting conditions. our own joie chen sat down with sarah cliff to find out more. >> sarah, let's talk about the focus. the focus so far has been on all the problems.

the technolog technological prod the problems. is it clear how many people are covered, how many people signed up? >> we are now looking at 6 million people who will gain coverage on january 1st. >> which way people are going, is it private policies, or more medicaid? >> about 4 million of the 6 million is in the medicaid space, the public program that serves low-income adults but we are seeing nearly 2 million in private insurance. so to get to 2 million is a pretty significant increase from the start of this effort. >> so i guess you know the bottom line on all that is, we have focused on all these problems but at the end of the day, if you get away from the technology, if you get away from the arguments on capitol hill, when you look at there has it actually made it easier for people who are u

uninsured or underinsured to get health care coverage? >> the problems have been significant. but when you put that aside, people would have to face long questionnaires and checklists, for people who have bought into the individual market, they say it's a lot simpler. the technological stuff has bothered people, they have had trouble with that. but they basically say, where they live, how much they earn, if they have kids or not. the folks who have tried both ways, it has gotten simpler for them to punch coverage. >> so really critical to the entire thing working always been said is the youth market, the young adults who are probably thinking they're fairly invincible and not so focused on health care coverage. is it clear they're signing up in the kinds of numbers that the

government needs? >> they think they need about 40% of whoever signs up, whether that number is 2 million or 10 million people, they need 40% of those people to be under 35. so one-third is close but it's not quite there. and i think that's a number that health and human services has promised to give us at some point this demographic number, we don't have it yet but one that all of us who are watching the health care law are definitely watching for. it will tell us whether the program will work. >> i know you're on the policy side and not the political side. there has always been this political side of this is been the wrong thing. whatever you think, whatever side you come down on the political argument, is it clear, that on january 1 we are not going back, it is going to be an

an affordable health care plan? >> when you see 6 million people receive their insurance because of the affordable care act, people would lose something if it went away. that isn't true now, there isn't a population that is at stake whether it is appealed or not appealed. but that changes on january 1st, when you have six million people scattered against states and congressional districts it takes very hard to take these benefits away. you might see a movement away from the repeal movement in 2014. it becomes very difficult to say you have these benefits we want to take them away. whereas prior to 2014 it was very theoretical and it was appeal. >> it is no longer the velvet een program, it is very real? is. >> thank you sarah. >> thank you.

>> still >> start with one issue ad guests on all sides of the debate. and a host willing to ask the tough questions and you'll get... the inside story ray suarez hosts inside story weekdays at 5pm et / 2pm pt only on al jazeera america >> this sunday... >> scholars and writers, policy makers and cultural

>> an exclusive "america tonight" investigative series >> we traveled here to japan to find out what's really happening at fukushima daiich >> three years after the nucular disaster, the hidden truth about the ongoing cleanup efforts and how the fallout could effect the safety of americans >> are dangerous amounts of radioactive water, leaking into the pacific eververyday? >> join america tonight's michael okwu for an exclusive four part series, as we return to fukushima only on al jazeera america >> well, 2013 is winding downwha little reflection. the trends you might not have noticed this year, make no mistake about it, even though you might not have taken notice,

these trends had a big impact on our lives. azmat khan, what are the trenders that people don't -- trends that people don't even realize are happening? >> many people when the expwrnt launched thought that media organizations had to scale back on their deeper reporting, that's definitely true, smaller articles, a lot of curated blogs. but we have seen a proliferation of long form journalism. explanatory, expository, deeper narrative, that brings to light a subject that you don't necessary-they are very expensive -- >> is there a craving to get more information beyond the headline? >> yeah, there's a desire for greater -- there's a disiert for deeper and yawlt reporting.

longform.org and longreads.com, which curate, the long reads hashtag that is used often to describe those, you see more people organize around it. but you also see media organizations creating more of it. buzzread for example, one that's known for it's listicals and animated gifts, they have a buzz reads portal that sends out a weekly e-mail, the verge, has done the same thing , byliner, i've talked to people at both buzz reads and byliner, showing there's a stronger interest, people are willing to pay for it, it's certainly growing and people are aware of the fact that people want this but they also know to be careful.

people don't want to read a 29,000 word piece in the new york times -- >> people don't have time for that as well. organization of labor which is quite different than we have at the past. >> the rise of the nonunion labor protest. in the 1950s, a third of the workforce was union unionized. a whole new kind of protest because they're not unionized, they can't strike in the way that we would expect them to but their demographics are also very different. they are made up i wouldn't say neville all of woman of color or minorities, but a large percentage of them are. whereas unions in the past had,. >> you see that this is a wide

array of people that are being reflected in these protests right now and they are organizing online too aren't they? >> yes, it's been a great tool just for any sort of movement in grass roots community organizing it helps a lot. i think something else that's important to recognize is the fact that they're using all new tactics. so in the pasteur protect -- in the past, you're protected if you strike. you kind of need the online space, you neat the digital realm to build momentum if you are going to do something -- >> america tonight's digital producer azmat khan. all right thanks so much. and that is it for us here on "america tonight". remember if you would like to comment on any of the stories you have seen here tonight, make sure you check our website, aljazeera.com/americatonight.

>> welcome to al jazeera i'm stephanie sy. here are your stories. 13-year-old jahi mcmath will get another week on a vent later. two suicide bombings in just two days in the russian city of volgograd. no official suspects have been named but chechen separatists have promised violence at the time of the sochi winter games. there is separating in