check check >> (countdown) >> 2014 has officially arrived. at least for part of the country. more than a million people packed new york's times square to usher in the new year. millions on the west coast are counting down for their new year celebration. >> the new year brings a test for the health care. patients who have signed up will be able to use their insurance for the first time. >> a new rocky mountain - the first country to approve

marijuana use. >> and the troubling trend of homelessness in america. >> hello, welcome to al jazeera america. i'm stephanie sy. [ countdown ] >> with that we wave goodbye to 2013 and say hello to 2014 - at least in part of the country. >> supreme court justice started the ball drop. >> folks on the west coast coast will bring in 2014 in a couple of hours. billions celebrated hours ago.

revellers in taiwan counted down to 2014 more than 12 hours ago. here you see celebrations in taipei. >> in moscow security was tight in red square. the fireworks blasting over the cathedral were spectacular. big ben rang in the new year in london. they are not just fireworks. it was a multisensory display, it also included peach snow, edible banana confetti and orange-scented bubbles. >> the affordable care act goes in effect on january 1st. hundreds of thousands can use their coverage. the supreme court suspended the

family planning. most key provisions will roll out on wednesday. >> today americans who have been forced to go without insurance can visit healthcare.gov, and enrol in affordable new plan, that starts today. >> that was barack obama on october 1st, when the nation's insurance exchanges went live. what's now. for individuals the next big milestone is new year's day, when the bulk of the health reforms take effect, the earliest day for coverage to kick in if you purchased insurance on the new markets. the uninsured have three months to get covered. yet there are some other maimer provisions of the health law that roll out on new year's day. the term pre-existing condition becomes a thing of the past of the insurers can no longer deny coverage if you are sick.

insurers can no longer put an annual dollar limit on how much of your medical cost will cover. >> if you suffer from an illness like cancer, your insurer can't drop or reduce your coverage as a result of that decision. health cover will became available for low income people. a family of fourerbing $34,000 will -- four earning $34,000 will be eligible for free coverage. there are new dates to watch out for. under pressure as insurers dropped the plans of millions, president obama offered states and insurers to offer old policies, even if they don't neat the mu requirements. starting in october insurers may no longer be able to insure the old plan, unless they were grandfathered in. >> what if you are an employer, there are big changes. after a series of delays, the

online market is due to begin. the market is available to employers with 50 or more employees. if you run a bigger company, 50 or more employees, you have another year before you are required to cover full-time workers, or pay a fine. now here is a big one. starting january 1st, 2018, the law imposes 40% tax on employer plans that cost more than $200,000 a year. the idea is to reduce costs, making employers more discerning. but for now, as america's health reforms roll out, all eyes are focused on how many people buy coverage on the new exchanges. is it >> former first lady barbara bush has been hospitalized. she's been receiving treatment

all day in houston, reportedly for pneumonia. the 88-year-old is said to be in stable condition. the family released a statement saying: >> 2013 marked a record year for the u.s. stock market. the do you rose more than 26% over the year, it's largest gain since 195. the s&p 500 jumped nearly 30% j the biggest one-year jump since 1997. the rally started low, but rose when the federal reserve promised to keep interest rates low. the fed kept its promise, meaning it could invest in the stock market all year long. >> there's a showdown brewing in south sudan. thousands of government soldiers are headed to bor. they are expected to try to

recapture the city from rebels, who took control of it on tuesday. bor are is the center of a conflict in the oil-rich state of jonglei. the conflict comes as the rebels agreed to meet for talks for the first time since the violence erupted. the rebel leader will not agree to stop the fighting. the meeting will take place in ethiopia. the rebels victory could give them a strong position. >> a team of al jazeera journalists are starting the year under arrest. >> mohamed fadel fahmy, and mohammed ahmed mohamed are being held in tora prison. it is where a number of high-profile political prisoners are kept. correspondent peter greste is detained at the cairo police station. al jazeera is demanding that they be released immediately.

>> as we start the new year we are looking at cold textures across the north. they vice-president in place for many locations. people are without power. we are talking about michigan and parts of new england. in the next couple of days there's a new storm system that will develop down here towards the gulf of mexico. see the rain we have, watch what happens over the next couple of days, because that will make its way to new england and bring 15 and 24 inches of snow for some locations. here towards the north-west we are looking at snow showers from montana. things have improved towards seattle over the last couple of days. temperatures are expected to go up as we start the new year on wednesday. 50 degrees, portland at 42. we'll see a mostly cloudy day. temperatures at 40. the break in the rain will be short lived, more coming into

play on thursday, turning to thunderstorms on friday. temperatures are expected to come down. here across the south-west we are looking at some cloudy conditions across the north, clearer for calve, down towards the south. we'll see los angeles stay lone at 74 degrees. remember last week the temperatures were high. we were looking at 80 there's. los angeles, a high of 64 degrees. for los angeles, i said you were relatively low, temperatures will come back up to 78 by the time we get towards the weekend. a lot of rain to the south. this is what the area we are going to watch carefully, but to dallas, we'll see clear skies over the next coup of days. temperatures on wednesday, a big drop. coming up to 57 on saturday. >> lighting up is about to become big business. >> hacking the iphone.

caple responds to claims that the n.s.a. tried to spy on their smartphones. taking the fight to the supreme court. utah's latest move to block same-sex marriage in the state. iranians

>> colorado is now the first state in the nation to allow anyone over 21 to legally buy and smoke marijuana. we have this report on how businesses there are profiting.

harvesting and processing pot is a family affair at nature's herbs and wellness in garden city colorado. >> this is my aunt judy, mum and dad. >> three generations of rotherhams work here, and business is booming. >> we started with 12 square feet and have about 10,000 square feet and we are bursting at the scene. the next grow-up is 10,000 square feet and we have plans for two or three facilities of that size. >> pot is the biggest thing in town. the 400 medical marijuana dispensaries account for a quarter of tax revenues, before they start retail sales. a fact that has the mayor seeing green. >> i like to joke there's not a pothole in my entire town because, you know, we have reinvested in infrastructure and do things we wouldn't have had a chance to do without new industry or energy in town.

>> if the estimates are correct, colorado is about to reap a bumper crop of cash thanks to legal weed. one study says sales can hit 606 million in 2014. there's about 100,000 users of medical marijuana in the state, but half a million are expected to start legally lighting up recreationally. that's not counting marijuana tourists. >> it's the next vacation destinition. no doubt about it. i mean, we get so many phone calls a day. right now, being closer to the first, we are getting about 50 phone calls a day. >> the u.s. department of justice says it won't try to shut the recreational pot industry. some grey areas remain. banks are not taking retailers' money at least for now. there are worries about increased crime and drug use. john rotherham thinks they'll

see dollar signs through the haze. >> everywhere will follow suit. if the voters allow it. >> while there are questions about how legal weed plays out, it's safe to say that hopes for the future are - high. >> washington state also voted to legalize recreational marijuana. that law will not go in effect until later in the spriping. >> apple has no idea the ns at was trying to hack into its iphone. the document describes a program that gather said information from the smartphone. the program wanted to monitor text messages, contact lists and more. it never helps access data in any product. >> in a night when a million people brave the cold. many others were out in the

freezing temperatures because they had no other choice. the number of homeless people declined, they are up in new york. >> raising small children would be tough for any single mum. danielle is doing it without a home. >> when you homeless it makes it 20 times more pressure. i want the best for my kids. this is not the best. >> this is where they've been staying for a year and a half, along with 19 other families in a city shelter in the bronx. >> it's infested with mice. it's not well kept. >> since 2012 the number of homeless people rose 20%. families make up the largest and fastest growing population. advocates claim the recession and outgoing mayor michael bloomberg. >> for the first time in more than three decades, there's

literally no permanent housing assistance helping families move from shelters into their homes. >> critics say he abandoned the homeless. cutting funding and expanding shelters. the mayor says expanding shelters keeps the homeless off the streets. >> at the same time rents are rising to an average of $3,000 a month. >> most low income and homeless people can't afrt to rent in the city, and subsidised housing like this doesn't have enough openings. >> the soup kitchen at the holy apostles shirt serves 3,000 a day. >> college students come out. they can't find a club. a lot of people are unemployed. people in between jobs. people struggling. >> many of them are homeless or on the verge of being homeless, like sharon scott, a mother of

five. the mayor and president has to do something. this must come to an end. danielle agrees and says without more help from city hall, her family will be stuck in a shelter. >> people look at us like we won't do anything, but i do, it's a lie. i keep working. with the minimum wage, and no housing, how is it possible. >> bill de blasio, who campaigned as an anti-michael bloomberg pop u last, promised to help the pure. comjanuary the 1st, he'll -- come january the 1st, he'll get that chance as mayor. >> there are more than 50,000 homeless people in new york city in 2013. >> utah is taking their fight against same-sex marriage to the supreme court. an appeal has been filed asking a justice to limit marriage to a man and woman. the federal district court

overturned utah's ban on gay marriage, and we look at why some gay couples choose to live there. >> salt lake city is not san francisco or new york. but it's a great place for candice and colleen. they are same-sex parents of twins. >> this is lidia marie and scarlett ane. >> not far away rachel and claudia are serving breakfast to their 8-month-old daughter. these are among many who rushed to get their wedding licence after a ban on same-sex marriage was overturned. >> to be able to get married in utah, it's unbelievable. >> sometimes i pinch myself. >> the ruling surprised everyone, in utah and beyond. quietly, out of the spotlight salt lake city's gay community

has been raising families here for years. >> there's an emphasis on families and children. it just makes it easier to be a parent period, because everybody else has children. >> the emphasis on family comes in part from the strong influence from the church of jes jesus christ. clifford is a law professor at the university of utah. >> salt lake city has the highest rate of gay parents of anywhere in the company. 26% of parents living here are raising families. well beyond 13% in new york. >> that's in spite of serious obstacles. >> among them, homophobia and hostility. in another - adoption. that became easier.

>> under utah law, if you are allowed to marry, you are entitled to adopt. >> it's a huge blessing. it's been a worry for us, that the babies were not legally protected in utah, or federally without the adoption. and so it's going to make the process easier for us. married with children. it's a utah tradition. now that same-sex marriage is legal, these parents believe they'll be putting out the william mat for more same-sex marriages. >> the mormon church was a leading force behind proposition 8, california's short-lived ban on same-sex marriage. the most intriguing inventions could impact society for years to come. al jazeera's jacob ward examined some important new gadgets. >> 2013 was a mix of goofy inventions and transformative

discoveries. shrinking electronics gave rise to what the industry calls wearable computing. fitness trackers, smartphone watchers and google glass. glass sounded like a good idea, but it freaked out our friends. it will take at least another year to figure out what we are supposed to do with the body-mounted computers. >> this year you won't have to turn them off on the plane. the faa's rules allow you to keep them on on the flight. 2013 was dull for apple. no glowing product and a growing perception that an android phone can do the stuff that an iphone can. >> but why wait around for a company to make thesings for you when you -- things for you when you can print them out. 3d transcripters fell to the $1,000, so budding inventors

with money in the bank could make their own stuff. don't think it will be private because n.s.a. has destroyed notions of password protection and privacy. >> in 2014 companies will be trying to convince us their products will put the government out of their reach. >> in 2014, medicine excelled - the body's own immune system used to fight cancer. crisper allowed for genetic microsurgery - turning on or off the genes that lead to afflictions. scientists may have figured out how to clone human stem cells the way they cloned sheep, would could create an endless supply for research. what got attention was the brain. deep brain stimulation, a method of feeding the current into our

head, easing the symptoms of parkinson's. they'll be able to use it to treat poets. >> in switzerland the human brain project is throwing $106 million. at last, scientists seem to have fillingured out what sleep is for. it clears toxins out of the brain that build up over the course of the day. that could lead to a better night's rest than anyone. >> the beginning of a new year means the end of another. we'll look at memorable moments of 2013.

>> well, we look forward to 2014. we remember the stories that made headlines in 2013. al jazeera america looks back at the extraordinary year.

>> this is the first ever newshour from al jazeera america. welcome everyone. >> the fire jumps a highway we took earlier. this is a remote and mountainous part of california, and one of many wildfires happening simultaneously across the western united states. >> this plane came back from a fire. it will reload and hit it again. >> with no funding the white house ordered that the government begin the shutdown process. >> the american people don't want the government shutdown. neither do i. >> there's no winner. >> families don't have - certainty about whether it could get paid. >> election day 2013 - still not over. that is not stopping the peck speculation of the future. government christy came seeking a second term in office. 60% going to him in most of the categories. people are saying this is the

beginning of 2016. >> the website has been too slow. people have been getting stuck during the application process. it's fair to say nobody is more frustrated by that than i am. >> i intend to release every last document in the public interest that is newsworthy and doesn't endanger the lives of human being. >> i pronounce you loving partners in mattery moany. >> this couple was married in new york. like many couples, it meant more to them to have their marriage count at home. >> it was a mass shooting beginning at 8:20 in the morning, in the midst of the monday rush hour as employees and civilians prepared to work. >> it is official detroit, once the nation's fourth largest city is bankrupt. >> we cannot turn away from the massacre of countless civilians with chemical weapons. >> throwing it to congress men's

one thing. he has cold feet or he thinks he has the votes. >> go, go, go. >> 11-year-old boy is a survivor of the air strike. these children are traumatised and scared to go home. >> the screams demand that president mohamed morsi leave office - they are getting louder. >> thank you, thank you. >> ukraine's government lurched into its biggest crisis in almost a decade. >> white slope. the conclave announcing that they have children. white smoke, they have elected a pope. >> the attack on the boston marathon shocked all of america.

>> there has been a plane crash. >> the train was travelling at more than twice the speed limit. >> my daughter is in there. she's been working in the garment's factory for three years. huge waves pounded the coast as the typhoon haiyan hit the philippines. >> it's hard to imagine that anyone could have lived through this: then a shout. >> that's your brother. >> it's her older brother. >> south africa is saying they'll wait all night so they can say goodbye to the man they call father. >> and that will do it for this edition of al jazeera america. i'm stephanie sy. remember news at the top of every hour, thanks so much for

watching. have a happy new year. loses sight of a conversation's serious subject. cathy griffin joins us.