>> good evening everyone. welcome to al jazeerah america. i'm john seigenthaler in new york. snow bound - thousands of flights cancelled or delayed across the country as the first storm of 2014 brings blizzard conditions. plus the impact on america's most vulnerable. >> colorado's stores selling pot lace, and bath sorts. you'll be surprised at the price >> a stunning accusation from an n.f.l. player who says he was fired for supporting same-sex

marriage. >> and toronto - the mayor that has big news that may keep his name in the punchlines for years to come. >> we begin with a winter storm of 2014. this is a live picture of midtown manhattan, the wind and snow picking up. it's bad, worse in boston. this is a live picture from there. parts of new england have two feet of snow on the ground as 1 million americans are in the path of this extreme weather. >> john terrett has been following the situation and brings more. >> a good evening to you. this is the end of the boston marathon. you know where we are. we are in the square in the downtown, as you can see, the snow is coming down steadily and it's been this way since

lunchtime today. i have to say we were expecting more blizzard conditions by now than we have, to be honest with you. it's freezing cold. and it's important to remember that what we have is two storms coming together. one is a nor-easter and they clash and the effect is a huge dump of snow, and massachusetts is the epicentre of the snowfall, although it's worth noting something like two-thirds of all the north-east are going to be badly affected by the snow. this storm is potentially very, very dangerous indeed. there's already been one death. earlier today governor duval patrick, the governor of commonwealth massachusetts made it clear to his people what he wants them to do - not to venture outside their homes, but to give the people involved in the clean-up operation a chance - in other words, stay at

home, don't come out. this is how we put it. >> as for tomorrow we are closing state government and urging private employers to do the same. the point is to keep people off of the roads and away from the dash and indoors and away from the cold. which is extreme. >> and i've been taking a walk around cock ni square and i can tell you that most of the businesses here are closed. the restaurants closed early. this is an area full of restaurants, but they all closed early. there are some businesses open. there's a c.b.s., which i think is open. there's nobody in it. the hotels are doing a roaring trade. bars are full. customers are down. there's nowhere else to go. the businesses are closed or they're going to be closed. if they are open no one is likely to come on friday as governor patrick is indicating.

what they are worried about is not so much boston, but south of here and south bay, south shore, lots of commuters, homes below sea level on the sure. further to the capes and the islands, nan tuck it, martha's vineyard, where people go when it's sunny, they'll have two inches of know. and a storm surge. the governor is worried, he's deployed the national guard and put police on the streets. >> kevin corriveau has been tracking the storm and joins us with more. >> we are looking at windy conditions and the snow across much of new york. before this began, this is 18 hours ago many people were on the streets getting ready for the storm. let's look at video that came in across the region. do we have the video? we

don't - there we go. people were stocking up. the reason, not just on salt and sand, but on goods for the home because there are power outages that are expected along the coastal regions, such as massachusetts, connecticut, long island and maine. they are loading the trucks with salt. there's three things they can use, salt, sodium chloride and sand, depending on the temperature of the air. salt is for the temperatures that are warmer. sodium chloride for cooler and sand. let's look at what is happening. let's put it into motion. it is getting worse as we made our way towards 11:00 pm. heavy know, especially to parts of new jersey, which was a surprise. we are getting gusty winds and strong snow up here towards parts of massachusetts. we updated this.

boxford massachusetts received 21 inches, even down here towards york country pennsylvania, 6 inches of snow over the last day. warnings are in effect. a colourful map. we are concerned about the blizzard conditions along the coastal regions, all of long island, cape cod and parts of the coastal regions of the north-east. this means we'll see gusty winds as well as temperatures plummeting below zero, visibility down to a quarter of a mile. as you see, massachusetts is the bullseye. tomorrow it is cape cod and gets most of the snow. >> thank you. speaking of massachusetts, joining us on the telephone to talk about the state's response to the storm is peter judge. the spokesman for the massachusetts emergency management agency. welcome, thanks for joining us on a busy night. >> tell us what the situation is

now? >> right now obviously we are in the middle of the snow storm, but our major focus is the midnight high tide. this is the second of three high tides we'll have to deal with. the last one and strongest is noon tomorrow. concerned about potential coastal flooding, particularly south, more south, but north of boston as well. something that we are monitoring, we prepositioned a lot of assets to assist local communities with potential evacuations, if necessary, so we are dealing with the snow, we have areas that have two feet of snow on the ground, but our real issue now, most until the early morning hours is the flooding. >> you have high tide and possible storm surge with the wind blowing in, and that's what creates the situation. >> right.

we have - offshore we have 20 foot seas. we have astro nomicily high tides and a bad combination, a confluence of a lot of things. obviously we have the strong offshore winds adding to this. it's very, very complicated. in addition, to add insult to injury the temperatures are such that there are areas here now that are probably hit with the windchill 25 below zero. talk about the roads in the state, and where the worst areas are. >> the major highways are in decent shape. folks have cooperated. they got off the roads relatively early. the governor reached out and basically dismissed state workers about 3 o'clock, and a lot of private sector followed suit. we have people home and off the

roads. ploughs have been off doing the job. those in the state-wide event, major snow fall is the eastern part of the state and the most populated part. major roads may be in decent shape. the major roads and streets need a lot of work done or overnight as we go through the day tomorrow. >> i know you have a lot of work. thank you for joining us. appreciate your update on the situation. >> you're welcome, you be safe now. >> all right. the storm is slamming the north-east, but is wreaking havoc for traverse. emily drew reports from laguardia airport. >> the storm caused a travel mess across the u.s. from the midwest to the north-east, snow and high winds led airlines to cancel 2300 flights. 6700 have been delayed. >> and there's more to come. airlines have cancelled hundreds

of flights scheduled to take off friday, affecting the the entire country and international travel. some of the stranded have to wait until the weekend to get flights. like this man trying to get home to west palm beach florida. >> initially we were supposed to stay at west palm beach. it was delayed. then they cancelled, so we went through the process again. we got a flight for 6 am saturday out of j.f.k. tomorrow it's all cancelled. we are here for the night. >> all three regional airports are playing hotel, planning to pass out blankets to stranded passengers. while the passengers get sleep ground crews will be busy trying to keep run ways and snow free of ice. >> we have a fleet of specialise the snow removal vehicles and

equipment. we have ample supplies of chemical agents on hand for snow and ice control. the goal is to work throughout the night, keep up with the storm and try to deliver safe run ways and taxi ways for the airline push tomorrow. >> laguardia airport is expecting 8 inches of snow. crews will be busy. >> more on the storm coming up later. on wall street the stock market boom of 2013 has turned into a bust in 2014. the dow dropped 135 points, it is the first time since 2008 the dow began in the new year with a loss. "real money" spoke to expert analysts about the outlook for the year. >> we have a solid investment marketplace on the equity side, a lot of big companies paying excellent dividends. that's the opportunity.

there's no one investment asset class you can stay in for 20 years. >> another analyst told "real money" that borrowing costs will become higher. >> 2014 could be your last hoorar to pay down credit card debt or home equity line of credit while you have the tail wind of low interest rates, rather than rising interest rates. 2015, 2016 the fed will embark on a campaign of raising interest rates. >> there's a superstation that the first five days of trading defined how the stock market would play out. >> millions of americans are changing their opinions about it, especially one political party. the pew research centre says in 2009 slightly more than half have accepted the idea that

humans evolved over times. it dropped to 43%. among democrats it is slightly up. >> joining us now is al jazeera political contributor dave levin that will. he is a -- levinthal. he is a senior reporter. welcome. >> thank you. >> what do you make of the poll? >> what is says is the republican party has a divide. they are divided to an extent between traditional mainstream republicans and tea party republicans. expect there to be religious overtones. in particular, you'll have a party that is going to play to the economic conservatives, and plenty of the folks who have a specific world view when it comes to reliagy ofty and

politics, where they are intertwined and the pew study speaks to that. >> get specific about the religious overtones that could happen in the next election. >> you have a lot of evangelical christians who identify with the republican party, and not the democratic party, who'll want to hear a lot about social issues, about issues that speak to education, evolution in schools being one of them. they'll want to hear about that, in addition to jobs and the economy, financial issues. >> are they going to want to get into evolution? >> no, they are not. it's something they are looking to avoid. as we talk about politics, we have a policy aspect to this. if you are somebody who has beaten the drum for space exploration, sending probes to the moons of jupiter or saturn, if you work for n.a.s.a., plenty of people love to do that.

academics and people that believe in science. you'll have little appetite for democrats or republicans for something like that which costs billions upon billions, because it's an issue that on one side the republican party is not interested in doing, and on the democratic side they have bigger fish to fry and want to focus on other issues. >> would you delve into this more. the numbers particularly. why do you think that fewer republicans accept evolution now than in 2009. >> it's hard to say. i read the study closely. it is a 7 percentage point change roughly, so that is outside of the margin of area, the statistical marchin of -- margin of error, so it means something. there's a situation where there's a melding of politics and religion together. when you look at this in a political context you have

information that is freely flowing, people that are campaigning on issues. it's easy among politicians and political groups to focus and hone in on the issues. whether that's affected people's core beliefs as fundamental as evolution and where people came from and why we are here on earth, it's hard to say, but definitely this suggestses that the republican party is moving in the direction of having more people who subscribe to that school of thought, that set of beliefs in their party, and the bottom line is that republicans believe in general more in an antievolutionary theory of life on earth than they did a couple of years ago. >> could this have a government impact on medical science and medicine - both. >> it could. we talked about n.a.s.a., whether it's medicine or other scientific efforts of pretty much any sort.

it could. it could go two directions. number one, you could have a lot of fights, or a lot of nothing. george will, the conservative columnist had an interesting comment talking about how republicans could buy into basic science and nod be liued items and what -- ludites and whatnot. it's a big hurdle to overcome. i suspect in 2014, when you have other issue facing the country, you're not going to hear a lot about this because of the factors we talked about. >> dave levinthal thank you for joining us. happy new year. >> an update on barbara bush. the 88-year-old is in hospital, but she's responding well to treatment for a respiratory

related issue. there's no time for her release, she's responding well. >> coming up dash dash -- - coming up, dangerous mission at sea destroying syria's chemical weapons >> and football's bigotry.

>> there's a cargo ship at a port in virginia playing a critical role in the destruction of chemical weapons. we have this report. >> it may have been a cargo rejected by every country asked, but for the u.s. of the disposal of syria's chemical weapons article will be a test of its ability to use field deployable hydrolysis system at sea. neutralizing chemical weapons with water, bleach and caustic soda on land is broeften technology -- proven technology. doing it on land can be done,

but on sea has not been tested. >> machines like this have been used for 10 years to driveway chemical materials. we have people that understand them well, and operate them safely. >> once the 700 tonnes of mustard gas and chemicals for sarin and vx are on board, the u.s. says it may take up to 90 days to complete what would normally take a month on land. the main variable is the weather. >> people working in the hold, feeding the precursor chemicals into deneutralization equipment - this is the only physical operations that are going to take place, and if the ship rolls or pitches to much, then, of course, that could be hazardous. >> another change is ensuring the continuous operation of the hydrolysis system at full speed, without pipes clogging. >> the low level waste produced will not be dumped at sea, but

stored on board and given to commercial companies for disposal. all the chemicals will be insulated. >> no liquid or gas will be able to escape from the ship unless it has passed through a number of filters and scrubbers. >> as for how the cargo will be security. it's >> we turn to our science and technology correspondent jacob ward. break this down - how do you destroy chemical weapons. >> well, there are only two way to do it - through insin ration or hydrolysis. insin ration is what it sounds like, you burn the weapons at a high temperature, burn the chemicals and it renders them

inert. hydrolysis is the mixing of the weapons with water and neutralizing chemicals, caustic compounds reducing them to toxic but not deadly material. the problem with insin ration is you need a special-purpose equipment to build it. hydrolysis is what you need to do. it's, in theory, more stable and reliable way to do it. >> the u.s. officials reassure us this process is safe and well-established. you think this is dangerous work? . >> it's unproven to try hydrolysis at sea. this is the end of a long and dangerous chain of events. you'll have to carry the weapons through hostile syrian territory

and carry it on to the ship. no one is trying to do it in the pitching and rolling environment of a ship. human handlers will need to feed this into the machine. the other thing to consider is that when you deal with a purpose-built facility on land, there'sate of these in the united states that do this and is -- there's eight of these in the united states that do this. there are environmental controls where you can shut down, evacuate and seal off in case of emergency. i'm not sure what happens if there's a catastrophic case. does everyone jump off the ship? it's not clear. >> what about the by-products, the waste? >> if you were to treat the stuff in the way it's treated on theship it should be reduced to the consistency of drain cleaner - toxic, but not deadly.

these chemical precurors agents, not the fully formed, we are not sure how that will be disposed of. this will be banned worldwide. it's terrible stuff, difficult to deal with. in this case we are talking about dealing with it out at sea in a way no one has done before. >> jacob ward, thank you. good to see you. >> casos in beirut -- chaos in beirut, an explosion - a blast tearing through a crowded district in the lebanese capital killing six. it took place in a hezbollah stronghold, the latest in a wave of attacks in lebanon as the war in syria spills over. in egypt three al jazeera colleagues are in their sixth day of detention. producers mohamed fadel fahmy and baher mohamed are being held inside a prison outside of cairo.

correspondent peter greste remains at a cairo police station. all three are expected to face questioning this weekend. al jazeera is demanding the journalists be released immediately. the prosecutor says they are held on suspicion of joining a terrorist groups, and spreading lies harmful to state security. the allegations are called fabricated nonsense. >> worse than expected, a blizzard is bounding the north-east. metrologist kevin corriveau tells us how bad it will be. >> in harm's way, the storm's toll on the homeless.

welcome back to al jazeerah america. i'm john seigenthaler in new york. here are the top stories - seeking peace in the middle east. secretary of state john kerry says finding peace between israel and the palestinians is not impossible.

kerry is in israel to talk with both sides. the prime minister benyamin netanyahu says he doubts palestinians are committed to peace. >> a 648 cargo ship is being fitted out with new technology in virginia. the u.s. navy's ship is undergoing work at a shipp yard before sailing to the mediterranean in two weeks. >> a snow storm barrelling to the north-east. you are looking at live pictures from laguardia airport in new york. storms dumped close to two feet in some places. stiff winds, cold temperatures are forecast. >> john terrett is standing by in the middle of the storm in boston massachusetts. it's not the snow, it's the cold temperatures, right? >> absolutely right. we are in cock ni square in the middle of downtown boston.

that's the end of the boston marathon, so you know where we are. what is happening is the snow is coming done relentlessly, since midday. we were expecting it to be windier than it is at the moment. nonetheless the snow is piling up. that is partly the result of the ploughs and the work, and partly the result of earlier wind drifts. it's worth making the point that there's two storms colliding. one is a nor-easter and there's another. this means that massachusetts is the center of the snow dump. there's a report from the national weather service telling us that two feet of snow has been dumped in parts of massachusetts, and the governor is concerned about south of boston, places like south bay, south shaw and the capes and islands down to martha's vineyard, where people go when it's warm. it's scheduled to be forecast

with two feet of snow. that could cause problems because big houses are below see level. they are worried about flooding and the awful temperatures. this is a north-east-wide storm. it's not actually as big as i think some of the storms have been in the past. about two-thirds of the north-east will be badly affected. there's a state of emergency in new jersey and new york. let's go to connecticut, where the governor has been saying that he's not only worried about the snow that his state will get, but he's particularly worried about the plunging temperatures. take a listen. >> there's a second part of this storm that concerns me the most. and that is how cold it is likely to be tonight, and tomorrow. we are seeing single-digit numbers in massachusetts and new hampshire already. that cold weather is on its way here. in all likelihood we have not seen the kind of cold weather

that we'll see in the next couple of days in as many as 15 to 18 years. and i remind you that it was 2004 the last time we had zero degree temperatures. >> that's really amazing when you think about it. the temperature dropping that could be a problem for many people, the elderly living at home, the homeless that go from where they normally hang out to shelters. now is the time, as governor duvall patrick of massachusetts has been saying, to stay at home, stay and look after your own patch of property, make sure that is clear. don't come to work tomorrow, unless it's easy - it will not be easy for anybody, and check on a neighbour. >> it looks like the snow has picked up, is that right. >> it's hard to say. it's been relentless since we arrived at lunchtime today. i know that the forecast is for the winds to tick up and there to be real blizzard conditions

in this part of massachusetts, and other parts of the north-east as the night goes on, we are expecting much, much more snow. it's an event that is it not over yet, far from it. although the governor of massachusetts said in a press conference that he expects the snow to taper off at the commuter however, and the sun to come out. the airports will be messed up for most of friday. >> john terrett in boston. thank you again. kevin corriveau has more information on when this will taper off and how high the winds will be. >> john meade a good point. the brunt of the storm is over the indecent. these are the current temperatures. boston at 3 degrees. albany minus two. portland, maine, minus five. new york at 20. when you factor in the winds,

the gusts. boston 33 miles per hour, as well as portland maine, nears the wind chills with the storm. we are feeling like 29, right where john terrett was standing. it feels like minus 29, portland main feels like minus 26. with temperatures, power outages are a factor. let's put the storm into motion and see where we are going to see at three hour intervals. you can see most of new england will be getting the brunt of the storm. what we see, starting at three is the back end of the storm making its way to the east, as well as the storm shift down to the south. by about 9am many parts of new england clear out. new york is breaking out there. southern new jersey may see snow showers as well as into boston. by the time we get to noon everybody is out of the storm,

besides the coastal regions. by 3:00 pm that's where the storm is ending. the temperatures across the area - tomorrow's lows, new york will be at 4 degrees, and again with the wind chills we'll be well below freezing. boston, will feel more like minus 20 or minus 25. the highs tomorrow are not very high. boston up to 13 degrees. new york 15. as we go for the next couple of days we'll see a change in temperatures. sunday, we'll go up to 40 degrees there. >> so i can clear this up. so the wind that we had forecast for, you know, 30, 40 miles per hour, is that supposed to come in after the snow. it's coming in actually with the snow. let me go back with the graphics. when the snow comes through, it's with it. that's why there's blizzard conditions. that's a combination of snow and wind, dropping the visibility to

a quarter of a mile. that is along the coastal regions and long islands. >> thank you kevin corriveau. >> the freezing temperatures obviously can be deadly, especially for those living on the street. new york's new mayors bill de blasio says the city is doubling its effort to reach homeless new yorkers. >> on a normal night thousands sleep on the streets of new york. >> i know the situation i'm in, i'm homeless. >> as new york braces for temperatures, high winds and snow. the city and nonprofit organizations are scrambling to provide shelter and warm clothes for the homeless. >> 60,000 have no place to stay on a given night in new york. the fastest growing sector of the homeless population is children. >> there'll be 22,000 children sleeping in shelters.

10,000 homeless families in the system. any day, anywhere from 100 to 150 families show up at the new york city path center seeking shelter. >> it's a problem that's been growing over the last several years and is not dimmin irishing -- diminishing. >> resources are stretched thin. there has been requests for 104,000 winter coats. only 22,000 have been donated. >> it's the lowest amount of donations in the charity's history. >> imagine doing anything without a coat. people, families, are only sending some of their kids or none to school because they don't have warm enough coats. decisions are real. a lot of new yorkers choose between food and buying a coke, paying their bills and buying a coat. >> hard choices some who sleep on the streets know too well.

>> it ain't good. it sucks. the door's open. the door is always open. it's not here, it's a church, if it's not the churn, it's a hospital. go somewhere, you don't have to be cold. >> outreach teams will bring those on the streets inside. for those that call the streets home, it's a storm that must be weathered every day. >> a former n.f.l. punter is making an allegation against his former team. john henry smith is here with more. >> chris cluey is the best punter in the history of the minnesota vikings when they cut him at the age of 31. now he has written an article confirming that he was cut because of his outspoken same-sex marriage act vis m.

he was or has written an article for destined.com saying, "i was an n.f.l. player before being fired by a coward and a bigot", naming the coach and special team coach. he alleges that frasier and freeman urged him to stop being outspoken. we are joined by michael from the star tribunal. how is this playing among the people? >> the reaction has been mixed, as anything has been over the last year and a half or so with chris. you have definite people in the cluey camp who, you know, are behind him 100%, thinking he's speaking out, speaking the truth, glad to have him do it. you have people that are not only tired of hearing from chris, but are protective of the vikings, and don't want to hear

his message. it's a very diverse and mixed reaction for sure. >> in the arm, cluey said he was sharing his thoughts on his release for the following reason: >> tell us about the chris you know, is he an opportunist or ideologist. >> probably both. he has taken a separate chapter of his life and run with it. he's outspoken for gay rights and advocacy, and it benefitted him in some ways. it's opened doors for him. it's closed doors, perhaps, n.f.l. wise. he's the kind of person who you give him a set of ideals, and it's hard for him to back down from the ideals. he does respect team and those ideas, but i think he has a sentiment inside of him that

does not allow him to stand down when he feels there's a subject that needs to be heard. >> clearly in the article the special teams coach was accused of being a bigot. he responded saying: >> vikings, statement, of course, denying wrongdoing. how much stock do you put in the claims? >> it's a he said, he said battle. i have a hard time believing cluey would not say these things if they weren't true. there's nothing for him to gain in saying something that is a lie. that's totally wouldn't benefit him at all if it came to past that it didn't come to past, and

it's reflective on him. it's up to people what they want to believe, what they do believe. some of the interesting thing in this is the timing and motivation, why now. he says it is time. he's not going to work in the n.f.l. he is 32. he had a good run with the vikings and he thinks it's over, and it could be. he's not stupid. this is a time when coaches are looking for a new job, after the people he has gone after in this report, they'll look for new jobs. leslie fraser, the head coach fired. part of his staff - it's possible he could be retained. he's taking a calculated risk in saying these things at this time, because he's trying to impact careers for sure. >> michael rand of the minnesota star tribune. thanks for the insight. that's a look at sport today. >> caught in the crossfire - an

update on the american couple and the children they refuse to leave behind it south sudan. plus - cash crop. a tour through denver's biggest retail pot store.

>> people are lining up at pot stores in colorado after the state became the first to legalize marijuana use. 37 licensed people launched colorado's newest industry when 2014 arrived. while pot use in public was illegal, retailers offered a wide array of edible marijuana-laced products. david martinez is the head of retailer at the 3d cannabis

center and joins us to talk about his business and the new recreational customers. we see a new face of who is consuming marijuana. we see everything from 21-year-old men and women, all the way from 70-80-year-old elderly patients. it's a wide array of people. >> you sell a lot of things. what was the hottest selling item. >> we sell a wide array of products. one of our hottest items is dixie alimpers, a medicated soda. so you can consume cannabis through your drink. instead of smoking it, you can drink it. >> if someone comes into your stores, do they know the products or do you have to explain it to them. how does it work? >> we have to explain products. we have a wide array of products

for where we have this here, which is a bath soap. it's a hot item among the women. you can add this to your bath and relax. it's nonpsychotropic, so you won't getmedicated or high. it's a great way to relax. people from out of state do not have a clue that you can go ahead and use marijuana as a soak. >> you will get high off the drink, but not off the loegs. give me some other products. >> we have dew drops. 10mg per drop. you can add this to your coffee, tea, soda, and put the subling wul under your tongue, wait about 30 seconds and swallow and give you your desired effects in which you are looking for. >> let's talk about what people come for. don't most people want to buy

regular marijuana or not. >> most people are coming in to purchase marijuana, but they want to pick up ingredients and other things, such as the dixie truffles, an edible, so you purchase smokeables and edibles as well. >> they are truffles. >> yes, they are. >> medicated truffles. >> is there a particular type of pot that people are buying the most of? >> not really. they are looking for what is going to help them. there are a couple of different classes so we really want to see what the person themselves is looking for. are they looking for something during the day, the evening time to relax or the in between. >> it's not one specific strain. they are looking for what will suit them best.

>> if they have not tried the products. how do they know the impact. >> we are known as bud tenders, so we are kind of the experts behind here, like when you go to the bar and ask the bartender, "what is the best drink you have?" that's the same thing when they come to us. what's the best thing you have, what do you recommend? that's where we come into play and we explain and give instructions on how to use the products. >> you have a cash register like any other store. what is required. when someone comes in to buy marijuana at the store, is there any other requirement. do you check their id. >> before they enter the premises, we have a security guard checking id, and we are not allowing anyone under 21 years of age. by the time we get into the dispensary room, the room we are in, credentials have been checked, basically. >> what about pricing. >> pricing is based off the

strain that they are choosing. >> you can sell an ounce of marijuana, what does that cost. >> an average ounce is costing $400. the truffles are $15 here. whereas the alimpers here are -- alixirs are $10 to $15. >> how much are you going to make? >> me, myself. we are in business to make money to feed the family and live well. i hope we do well. >> great to see you, david martin ez. >> you heard david martin ez say an ounce of marijuana cost $400. taxes makes it expensive. the marge warna tax is 25% and 3% for sales tax, factor in that and an ounce could cost more than $500. experts expect the price to drop when stores begin to sell marijuana. in other news. secretary of state secretary of

state john kerry is in the middle east and said he remains committed to reaching a peace deal between the israelis and the palestinians. he'll travel to the wang on friday to meet mahmoud abbas. >> nick schifrin has this story. >> john kerry will ask the israelis to stop building settlements on the land that palestinians hope is the heart of their future state. for many israelis, it is fundamental for their identity. for palestinians it takes a two-state solution impossible. >> before this man had a chance to move into his home it was destroyed. this is a village. the israeli military bulldozed his house. >> this is the epitome of degradation. they must think we are animals, otherwise they would not treat us like this. >> about a mile away israel is building.

these foundations are homes for a settlement. this home was built four months ago. the israeli government subsidises the houses so they are treat. she moved so the streets are quiet. >> it's a beautiful view and nice neighbours. >> as you can see, we are a few hundred feet from the house that was demolished. >> this family lived here for generations. >> israel says the villages don't have required building permits. they argue that israel is trying to encroach on palestine land. >> number one, two and three settlement. >> do you feel like you are being surrounded? >> absolutely. >> when you look around, what do you feel? >> almost zero. zero chance of a palestine state. >> why? >> practically the settlements are occupying everywhere.

>> israel says it has the right to build settlements on land captured in the 1977 war. the pace of the building increased. >> 4,000 settlers lived on: >> on a good day we can see the sea. >> the u.n. calls the settlements illegal. this is like a small town usa. >> my kids play at a friend's house. they can tell me who they are going to and go and play at the house without me going with them. >> she's not just here for the neighbourhood and the view, but believes god wants her to be here. >> in the bible god gave the jews the land. it was given to the jews. it's important for me to live here. >> as she walks home, this man

gathers his family of nine. there's not enough room for everyone. he vows to rebuild the destroyed home. he has no power to stop israel from destroying it again. >> last week israeli officials said they'd announce 1400 settlements, but as one israeli official put it to me. in order not to poke a finger in kerry's eye, they delayed the announcement until after he left. they'll go forward with the 1400 settlements, infewer rating palestinians, threatening to walk away from the talks if israel announces the settlements. the talks a fragile. more so by all this talk of settlements. >> that's nick schifrin reporting from jerusalem. running out of food and options. american missionaries brad and kim campbell stuck in south sudan with 10 orphans they refuse to believe behind. the campbells and their two biological daughters are staying

at a u.n. base. the u.n. ministry says the couple is trialling to travel to a -- trying to travel to a safe spot in the south of the country but lack official papers. >> the "the guardian" and the "new york times" published opeds urging the government to give up a pursuit of edward snowden. they wrote: >> still ahead - critics quick to fire back in an interview. republican interview peter king says the "new york times" made themselves blame first.

they made themselves blame first american rag: >> coming up, he's back. toronto mayor rob ford returns to the headlines with a make your announcement.

>> you would think that toronto mayor rob ford would have resolutions for the new year. it seems he has one. as you will see, it's not what you expect. richelle carey reports. >> >> four more years.

that was the promise toronto's mayor rob ford made as he signed up to run for re-election. he was the first candidate to show up at city hall, making international headlines. first by admitting he used drugs. >> yes, i have smoked crack cocaine, explaining that it happened when he was in a drunken stupor. then there was this. >> [ bleep ]. >> everyone outside canada knew who ford was. and the world waited to see what outrageous thing he may say yes. >> this guy has a huge [ bleep ]. >> i'm sorry how i've been acting. it's not indicative of my possession of mayor in this town of toronto. >> hey, man, i have what you wanted. >> hey, let's do it under the desk. >> despite the bad press, he refused to stand down. nor did he when strip of all but

his symbolic powers. >> the reason i drank and did drugs was not because of stress, it was because of sheer stupidity. he told city council that he is the best mayor, and promised to un are on fiscal, not personal record. >> everybody drinking and doing drugs. they don't catch them. they catch him and make publicity. >> rob ford has a common touch with the people. >> it will get nasty. we'll stand on our fiscal record. rob ford is the only politician i can remember that has done what he said he'd do. >> toronto's voters will have the final say on ford's political future in october. >> and more on today's weather in just a moment.

>> welcome back to al jazeerah america. here are the top stories. powerful winter storms continue to surge across the u.s. some 100 million americans are in the path of the storm, and extreme weather. the north-east are taking the brunt of it. kevin corriveau joins us with the latest. we are seeing the snow conditions go all the way down to alabama, and georgia. they will continue, but the brunt of the storm is up towards the north-east. we are seeing it all the way from massachusetts down to parts of virginia, and are seeing the end of the storm about here. that will make its way through the end of the morning, we think. parts of massachusetts up to