used a hug... >> dark matter of love on al jazeera america . ♪ a storm packing a powerful one, two punch crushes the northeast, heavy snow and whipping winds brought several states to a stand still. al-qaeda linked fighters threatening to take over two critical cities and militants are trying to recapture them where many were killed in the war in iraq. >> i love the country and it has given me a lot. >> reporter: no green card, no problem. in an unprecedented court ruling in california an undocumented immigrant can legally practice law in the state. and a real winter wonder land, a

magnificent city made entirely of ice. ♪ good morning and welcome to al jazeera america, i'm stephanie sy. the first major snowstorm of 2014 has arrived in full force and it pummeled on new year's eve is now crippling the northeast with heavy snow and bone-chilling temperatures and blamed for two deaths in illinois and another in philadelphia. new york and new jersey have each declared a state of emergency with blizzard-like conditions expected through the morning and new york city cancelled school for nearly one million kids but the sub freezing temperatures moving into the area that are the most concerning. temperatures are expected to dip to minus ten by the weekend and it's even worse further north in new england, some areas have

seen 22" of snow with more expected over the next 12 hours. the lows in boston will be well below zero and part of maine could see the mercury drop to minus 30. from the midwest to the northeast more than 100 million people are feeling the effects of this dangerous new year's storm. north of chicago residents are digging out for more than 16" of snow and crews have been working nonstop clearing treacherous roads. >> i started tailgating and it's on four-wheel drive too and doesn't matter. >> reporter: it hit the northeast overnight. >> this is a big one and the noreaster is a monster. >> reporter: parts of massachusetts have two feet of snow and the governor has a warning for residents. >> we are expecting extreme cold beginning this evening with wind chills in parts of the state at

some 25-30 degrees below zero. that is a serious hazard to not just road conditions but to human life and health. >> reporter: boston declared a snow emergency clouding schools, banning street parking and forcing government workers to go home early, the last act of business for a mayor about to leave office for nearly 20 years. >> mother nature wanted to give me one more gift in a snowstorm. >> reporter: spin outs across new england, flipping pickups and beaching tractor-trailers in the snow and causing a fender bender with a state police cruiser. from pennsylvania to washington d.c. plows are commuting with commuters sitting in bumper to bumper traffic sitting in roads. >> we are concerned about it freezing up and we need to get the salt in and getting them run early. >> reporter: no relief in the skies as stranded passengers in airports struggle to get home, flight aware.com is reporting

more than 8,000 flights have been delayed or cancelled. >> i have awared mom at home who is freaking out right now that i'm not home, so, yeah, i'm trying to get home. >> reporter: al jazeera's john is in boston, the heart of boston with more on the storm. john, good morning, it's the kind of temperatures where you really do have to cover your face i see. >> absolutely. it's really, really cold here. i just found out for you there is a snowplow coming by. and i found out it's three degrees at the moment and with the wind chill it will be colder and we will tell you how cold it is. we are at the square in downtown boston where the boston marathon end and we know where we are now and according to the forecasters we had about 10" of snow in boston itself. but to the north of the city at

box ford 21" has fallen and the real concern of the governor is not the big urban centers but it's down on the coast, south of boston, places like the bay and south shore and mantucket and to feet of snow and a tidal surge and there was one at midnight and they are concerned about coasting flooding there and some homes there are below seawater and worried about that. the national guard is the street and deployed 400 and extra police but his main message going forward to the people of massachusetts which are in the eye of the storm. two thirds of the northeast are effected but it's the epicenter and the message from the government is stay home and look after your property and we will look after the city. >> reporter: new york and new jersey declared states of emergency at this point and the storm is actually going to be worse where you are. i see the wind gusting there now. are you hearing anything new on

that this morning? >> no, i was wondering about that myself because governor christie and governor como declared this last evening but not from here and they think it's will be worst on the boston south shore and bay and nantucket and a long time for the snow to get there. this is not over for a very long way. one of the messages is the morning is the storm seems to be moving a bit slower than we first thought. here in boston it will not clear until about 1:00 this afternoon and then on the coast where there will be significant damage and not out to sea until 3:00 or 4:00 this afternoon, so i think he is probably waiting. in the meantime as of last night he had 2500 pieces of equipment out on the roads of the state to clear up the snow. he thought 3,000 by this morning. and i think as long as people heed his warning and do stay

indoors we can just think the state will dodge a bullet but there is a long way to go stephanie and we have to wait and see. >> are they concerned about power outages at all there? >> yes, that is absolutely right, that is the major concern and it's the problem with the lines above ground in this part of the world when the snow comes is the power lines freeze and adds extra weight and they sag and snap and of course the trees are covered with snow and bend down, lie on the power lines and then the power lines snap and that is a big problem. so i think at the moment given the fact that everything happened that we seem to have got away with things okay, the city is open for business as it can be and people are most likely going to stay at home today, then there for the big problem is power outages over the weekend and into next week. >> john is reporting from boston, thank you, john. let's check in with metrologist nicole mitchell tracking the storm for us, good morning.

>> good morning, this will be moving out quickly this morning, the problem at this point is we still have the wind and the snow on the ground will be blowing for the morning and the afternoon somewhat. here are the different hazards we have. you see the pinks on long island and massachusetts under blizzard warnings. and i heard some people calling this a blizzard. i clarified this yesterday, a blizzard has specific criteria, two items, you have to have winds sustained or greater at 35 miles per hour and visibility a quarter mile or less for those same three-hour periods. i've been looking at big cities like new york and boston, not even close to that criteria in terms of what some of the visibility and winds are. and even some outlying areas and looking at a couple reports and some getting down visibility wise but a lot of places not seeing the wind. here is what some of the winds are doing and these are gusts and not sustained winds but we have wind flow out of the north now and gusty in the 29 miles

per hour range so gusting about 30 is not quite enough to get what causes this to be a blizzard but it has been a potent snowstorm and moving out and by noon today a lot of this will be over. good news. another inch or two depending where you are as all of this moves out but it's blowing around and a lot on the ground and looking at places like newark and laguardia got 4-5" out there and still needs to be moved out of the way. this is in motion for the rest of the day. already by later today we could see clearer skies and causes a problem too without the clouds to insulate everything it will allow the temperatures to drop down. you see temperatures overnight tonight in somewhere like new york could be single digits but add in the fact there is wind and that will shove the wind chills below zero in a lot of cases and back to you. >> speaking of new york, erica is out in new york city where

roads and schools a closed. erica good morning, how are things looking this morning in manhattan? >> well, good morning stephanie. yeah, the snow has been creating quite a mess particularly on the roads for hours. you can see it's still coming down very steady. look at the roads. we have plowing comes through pretty often and yet you still have snow packed on the roads. that is exactly why officials here in new york city decided just a little while ago to close all new york city schools and means 1.1 million children will have a snow day today. which could be pretty fun for them at least because take a look at the snow. this is light. and fun. i mean i really never seen this, i'm from new england and normally see a lot heavier snow and this is light stuff but there is a danger and you heard nicole talking about that is when you have the snow that is so light and the winds pick up you could be dealing with near

white-out conditions and could mean pretty treacherous driving for folks and why is mayor of new york city has concern as well as the governor of new york for people driving in and out of work today and took great stakes overnight to prepare for this storm. >> it would have been nice to have a nice, calm first day b we have snow on our mind. >> reporter: that is new york city mayor sworn in two days ago who will be tested early as the first snowstorm of 2014 takes aim at the big apple and the rest of the state. >> mother nature is showing us who is in charge. >> reporter: they closed roads and new jersey expressway which connects people to new york city. >> it's a message not doing too bad with the roads on the main roads but the side roads are horrible. >> reporter: long island with blizzards and a foot of snowplows are out in force

cutting and clearing a path in the race against time for the commute and as for the rails, they will have to adjust to trains running on a weekend schedule this morning. >> the plan is to wake up early tomorrow and look at the window and see what it looks like, get the snow blower out and try to get to work. >> reporter: plows and residentss working hard in new york city scraping up the earliest of accumulation of snow from the bronx to brook land. >> i have to be to work early. >> reporter: 1700 plows and 450 salt spreaders hit the streets when the snow started falling and did not declare a snow emergency. at the region's airports. >> training since august for an event. >> reporter: they will clean the roadways at jfk, laguardia and new york and they will decide if and when they will delay out coming and in-coming flights. >> the goal is to work throughout the night, keep up

with the storm and try to deliver safe runways and taxi ways. >> reporter: some of the stranded will have to wait until this weekend to get flights like this man at new york's laguardia airport trying to get home to west palm beach florida. >> i got a flight saturday out of jfk because tomorrow is all cancelled already so we are just here for the night. >> reporter: and the snow is expected to keep coming down with up to 10" expected in new york city. and the fire department of new york has said that it has ramped up and the trucks are putting more ambulances on the roads with snow chains to get through the snow and the roads as well as adding more staff to man the 911 call system and it's not just the snow but the temperatures. it's about 11 degrees right now where we are here in midtown manhattan and it's going to keep dropping in the single digits with the wind chill you are looking at below zero

temperatures and that is really cold for folks and really the mayor of new york is saying to most folks if you don't have to go out, just stay inside. >> that sounds like good advice and erica is reporting in new york city. looking at the flight tracker of plane finder.com and you see despite the delays and cancellations there are more than 1,000 flights in the skies over the united states right now. we will continue to follow the weather and now to other news. iraq's prime minister is calling for reenforcement for two major cities as sunni aligned with al-qaeda threatened to take them over and fighting is in the cities where many american troops were killed during the war in iraq and rob matheson reports and since the troops pulled out in 2011 the cities have increasingly are hubs of extremism. >> reporter: the heart land of sunni minority and signs of a government losing grip.

this is ramadi where security forces battle with forces linked to al-qaeda and thousands of sunni fighters have taken over local government buildings, seized weapons and freed prisoners, this is a protest movement this week. to regain control jets have taken to the skies. defense ministry released the pictures of what it says are air strikes targeting fighter positions and not just ramadi but falusia and the group behind the violence in both cities called the state of iraq and said to be capitalizing on the anger of sunni and one of the main factions fighting in syria. >> i think the ultimate objective is probably to be able to carve out the amount of territory in western iraq and eastern syria that might be contiguous and therefore provide them with some sort of physical territorial sort of base.

>> reporter: iraq's deep rooted sectarianism have been in the last year and are accused of neglecting the interest and won't negotiate with those associated with al-qaeda. >> we recognize the brothers who are willing to speak to us, consult and discuss and we need those and not those who claim to represent them. >> reporter: the fighters are only adding to the chaos to further destabilize iraq before upcoming elections in april. you will have to calm the situation before then if it's to show he still has control of the country, rob matheson al jazeera. >> reporter: they are major cities which played a key role in shaping iraq history. after the u.s. led invasion of iraq in 2003 it was a hot bed of the sunni muslim insurgency and

fought american forces in 2004 it was a symbol of resistance to u.s. presence there and an american-led offensive drove rebels from the city, in 2006 and 7 a network of tribes went with the u.s. to fight al-qaeda. they are pressuring karzai to sign an agreement with the u.s. and telling him not to release prisoners who participated in attacks against u.s. troops and they say afghanistan could put the relationship of the u.s. at risk if the 88 prisoners don't face trial. >> over 60 coalition forces have been killed as a result of actions by these 88 and 57 afghans have been killed by the actions of these 88. to allow them to be released would be a front to the afghan people and to the soldiers and those who have bravely risked their lives to capture them. >> reporter: senators graham,

john mccain and john baraso met in kabul with karzai and said karzai could soon be ready to act on the bilateral security agreement also known as the bsa. >> i'm convinced as a result of our long meeting with president karzai we have narrowed those differences and i believe that we can look forward to the signing of the bsa and an imitation of it sooner rather than later. >> reporter: tribal leaders approved the deal in november but karzai has refused to sign it until after elections are held in april. for the second time in less than a week a bomb rocks beirut, the explosion tore through a hezbollah and then lebanon has seen a string of attacks linked to the war in neighboring syria. secretary of state john kerry heads to the west bank today and meeting with palestinian

president abas and already met with netanyahu and trying to get them to hammer out the framework for a peace deal and we are live from jerusalem and good morning and kerry restarted the peace talks for the decade-old conflict back in july and give it nine months and we are at the halfway point now and has there been any progress? >> not a whole lot of progress to be honest, stephanie. what kerry said yesterday and what the aids are trying to do has tapped down expectations and carry used the phrase all i'm here to do is create the guideline for the framework for future talks and no where near an agreement and all he is trying to do is get the two sides to talk about and there are sticky sides and one on the israeli side and insisting the palestinians acknowledge them as a jewish state and that is new, israel never demanded egypt or

jordan to acknowledge them in the past but they say for us to know the palestinian are true peace partner they have to say that it's a jewish state. they say that is buying in your narrative and accepting the arabs who lived in israel before 1948 will not be able to return and marginalized the arabs in z israel now. on the other side they will have to accept 1967 borders and that means accepting an israel without the west bank, without gaza, without the golon heights and one thing i read this morning is netanyahu never accepted that and for netanyahu to accept the borders is like jewish eating pork and i will translate that jews never eat pork and they don't eat anything and that will give you a sense of how difficult it is for the israeli government to concede

the 1967 borders. >> reporter: a sign of netanyahu stance is that it has continued in the occupied territories and kerry got one concession from israel before he arrived and no new settlements for now but will that last? >> this is a very, very small concession. the israelis tell me and all journalists here they have no intention of stopping these settlement announcements, 1400 settlements were supposed to be announced in the last few days and they delayed the announcement as one israeli officials put it to me not stick their finger in the eye of john kerry but the settlements will go forward and a sense on the israeli side they are trying to lower expectations and trying to already shift blame to the palestinians and really doubt, really cast doubt on whether kerry can succeed. prime minister benjamin netanyahu with a press conference with kerry yesterday was very skeptical and the tone

coming from the israelis, let's listen to what he has to say. >> i know you are committed to peace. i know i'm exited to peace. but unfortunately given the actions and words of palestinian leaders, there is growing doubt in israel that the palestinians are committed to peace. >> reporter: and stephanie it goes without saying that if the retorect continues it makes kerry's job harder. >> reporter: a code cracking super computer, nsa may be working on one that can break any kind of encryption. plus filing suit against facebook and some say your private messages on the app are not so private. and going to the emergency room, an eye-opening study on who uses them the most. a former minnesota vikings player is making headlines and

says the support of same sex marriage was a factor in the team letting him go. that story ahead. and a live look now at new york where the snow is still falling. ♪ 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

♪ good morning and welcome back to al jazeera america, i'm stephanie sy, it's not just a snowstorm hitting the northeast today, the region is getting hit with severe cold. metrologist nicole mitchell is here with a look at the temperatures across the nation today, nicole. >> a little shock to the system in the northeast where temperatures are dropping with the system and if you want to feel better look at the midwest where we have negative temperatures and better than that. i will look closer and get to the midwest in a second. i mentioned the sustained winds we have this morning and the winds in the 20 miles per hour and some gusts in the 30 miles per hour range and varies where you are and what it feels like on your skin temperatures to minus 37 in toronto and parts of

new york and people are staying home because of the snow as well. in the west a brief warm up with winds from the south and southwest for today and tomorrow but watch out as we get into sunday, monday, these temperatures, this is tomorrow minneapolis at 13, it's going to go back below 0 in the dangerous ranges and back to you. >> the college football season is reaching its peek and mark morgan is there and the game is better as we get closer to the bcs championship. >> they seem to be for sure. a lot of compelling games as we move forward and it's good obviously. throughout the college season it seemed alabama was distincted for another bcs title birth and then auburn happened. the tide beaten in the iron bowl thrill had a place on the team and said last off season calling sec the country's best conference was propaganda and

there is aj and alabama quarterback and up 31-24 and trevor knight under pressure and finds shepard and 9 yards for the downtown and for td passes and completed a record of 32 passes. under 7 minutes and same score and alabama trying to come back and that is derrick henry the freshman and remember his name, 61 yards with a pass for mcconcern and down 38-31. under a minute left and first in ten and last chance for the tide and looking to make it happen and hit by eric striker and ball is loose and picked up by grissom and returns it for the touchdown and over the goal line and oklahoma up sets alabama winning the sugar bowl and bob gets a bath and the final 35-41. nfl and former minnesota vikings chris said the team released him prior to the season because of

his stance on same sex marriage and hohomophobic remarks told h and claims in a november 2012 meeting said and i'm quoting we should round up all the gays, send them to an island and nuke it until it glows. this was the statement in response to the allegations. i want to be clear that i do not tolerate discrimination of any type and am respectful of all individuals. i personally have gay family members who i love and support just as i do any family member, as a coach i've always created an accepting environment for my players including chris, and looked to support them both on-and-off the field and here is michael of the star tribune with his take. >> it's hard to say right now, it's a he said, he said battle right now.

i have a hard time believing that he would say these things right now if they were not true at least to the best of his recollection. there is nothing really for him to gain perhaps in saying something that is a lie. that is totally you know that wouldn't benefit him at all if it came to pass it was fabricated and reflect poorly on him. i tend to believe there is something there so but at this point it is up to people what they want to believe, what they do believe. >> reporter: now the nfl playoffs begin tomorrow in three of the four games this weekend still are not sold out. that means under league rules those games could be blacked out in those markets. that has not happened in the nfl since 2002. here is the deal, these are the three games not sold off as 4:00 thursday deadline and indianapolis and the colts had 4500 unsold tickets as of thursday morning. cincinnati the bengals were 8,000 shy of a sell out against

san diego. and indicates that businesses in cincinnati bought some seats with the intention of donating them to military families. this is a surprising one packers against the 49ers, 3,000 tickets short of a sell out as of thursday morning and they have 319 game sell out streak underway. we will have more on that as the weekend moves forward and wraps it up for sports. >> reporter: the snow is piling up on the east coast and we will be tracking the storm and the dangerous condition it is leaving in its wake. and why his case could set a major legal precedent for millions of people. rescued from one of the coldest spots on earth, we will hear from some of the people rescued from the boat stuck in the ice. this is a live look at time's square and the snow continuing to fall on the east coast. ♪

♪ welcome back to al jazeera america, i'm stephanie sy. millions of people are waking up to a blanket of snow outside their doors this morning, a major snowstorm has been pummeling the northeast and shutting down roads, schools and offices and tracey says in washington the snow is still falling. [honk] snowplows did the best but look at the roads. the roads are terrible. >> slippery and scary. >> reporter: in massachusetts schools closed early and government employees said to go home and some people had to go to work. >> an accident here and a car ran right into the median right in front of us. >> reporter: new york sent out

1700 snowplows and expressways are closed and in pennsylvania snow was falling during the evening rush hour causing a chain reaction pile up. >> the roads are very slippery. >> reporter: some areas are expecting a foot or more but the problem isn't just snow. it's windy. >> we get very nervous about winds over 40 miles per hour. >> reporter: and it's cold. temperatures across the northeast will dip into the teens today with wind chills down to 30 below zero. >> it's very cold. >> i'm layered up with four pairs of pants and four sweatshirts. >> reporter: snow is expected to continue to fall through mid morning. >> and tracey pots reporting from washington d.c. and the salt that crews use loses effectiveness between 10-20 degrees. the u.s. is evacuating more staff from the american embassy in south sudan. officials say the security situation in the country is

quickly deteriorating. the state department is also warning all americans to leave after the government said rebel fighters are moving toward the capitol city. duba and cease fire talks are underway this neighboring ethiopia but the two sides have not met face-to-face and believed thousands of people have been killed in almost three weeks of fighting between rival groups and mohamed is in duba with more. >> fighting continues around the town in the state and bohr has three times the fighting began and while the rebels control it right now, the government forces are trying hard to get it back from them. and while the fighting goes on, rebels are safe to be heading to duba and they are right now, according to reliable sources at a place where it's 150 kilometers north of duba and on foot coming to take the capitol

duba. we don't know whether it's related to these events, but the u.s. embassy started getting out nonessential staff out of duba and asking u.s. citizens in south sudan to head to the airport in duba to be air-lifted out of this town. they are also other countries that are equating the nationals from duba and some continuing this since the conflict began. now, while this is happening also talks where we are told that the rebels are in an uncompromising position as a cease fire agreement on the 7th issue to be addressed with 6 other conditions they want fulfilled before they can talk about stopping the conflict. >> reporter: mohamed in south sudan. looking for ways to identify suspected criminals and pressure

to increase security after the west gate mall siege in september which left 70 people dead and we report from the town of talk talk in southern kenya and the government is turning now to community policing. >> reporter: as he has been building this house for his family for a year now, a month ago he almost lost all of his construction material after robbers emptied the site and took two days after he informed other villages to trace and recover the stolen items. >> translator: i did not think i would get them back but thankfully my committee members came to my rescue and they were hidden. >> reporter: tucked in the shadow of mt. kilamanjaro and they want to know neighbors and report suspicious incidents of the meetings first as opposed to going directly to the police. it's a concept the national

government is trying to implement across the country under the name ten houses. crime has been a problem in kenya for years. the government says it can't tackle the issue alone and they say to expose alleged criminals people need to know who lives in the households around their own. >> translator: and so the village has been divided in blocks of ten homes and meetings are held in the presence of a police officer and in urban this is done through anybody associations. >> reporter: here she talks about how they successfully managed a manner from illegally brewing beer at home but this is infringing on people's privacy and some people are talking about vigilanteism and say they are deflecting responsibilities. >> all the initiatives are devoid or far from where the main problem is which is to police themselves. one is the pay.

the other issue is equipment. they lack vehicles even to move. >> reporter: but the man in charge of them with the ten house initiative say the goal is not just to suppress crime. >> and their participation. their ownership. their solutions are coming from them. >> reporter: the government argues such forums could promote over all community development but it's not clear how willing people across the country are to embrace the initiative, discussion for one has been spl split -- politicized. >> reporter: they experimented with policing back in 2003. egypt has arrested people and son of a muslim brotherhood member confesses to the attack last week and that is the first piece of evidence that the brotherhood is linked to attacks

in the country. egypt's latest terror suspect is a puppet was in a commercial but they say there are hidden messages for the muslim brotherhood and they said it was not true. and journalists have been in custody for six days and fahmy and fawzy are held and they are still detained and the prosecutor is saying they joined a group and spreading lies and say the accusations are fabricated and condemned arrest and want their immediate release. the person behind the arson attack in san francisco, they say security camera footage shows the suspect parking a van in front of the building before

pouring to buckets of gas at the front gate and setting it on fire. the blaze is not being treated as an act of terrorism and china is calling on the u.s. for adequate protection for the consulate. california supreme court granted a man living in country illegally for to decades a license to practice law. as al jazeera's erica ferrari hope this opens the door for other immigrants. >> reporter: they voted that garcia can begin practices law. he moves to the united states as a teenager 20 years ago and applied for citizenship back in 1994 but because of a backlog of applications from mexico he never received a visa number. >> i love this country. this country has given me a lot and a lot of heartache as well. >> reporter: he attended community college and became a paralegal and finished law

school and passed the bar on the first try and using the law skills he decided to challenge a 1996 federal law banning illegal immigrants from obtaining professional licenses from government agencies or with the use of public funds. thursday's ruling means he can begin practices law despite his immigration status. >> i could not be happier, it's a great day. >> reporter: he hopes the new law will be a beacon of hope and inspire others. >> as you know what california does a lot of people follow and i know florida is facing the same issue and new york is facing the same issue and think they they were waiting on us to act. >> reporter: he will be sworn in as a california attorney and plans to be a personal injury law in his hometown of chico and al jazeera america. >> reporter: the obama administration fought to provide a legal path to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants but it was against the legal precedence set by this

case. the national security agency is reportedly racing to build a quantum computer to break every kind of encryption and this is leaked by edward snowden and years away from completion but could break firewalls on medical and banks and computers around the world and secure website used to protect secrets would be vulnerable and part of a $80 million research program that is underway in college park maryland. two major newspapers which publish revelations from snowden are now calling for clemency. this week both the uk guardian and the "new york times" published and urging the u.s. government to give up pursuit of the former intelligence contractor. editorial board for the times wrote considering the enormous amount of information he revealed and abuses he exposed he deserves better than a permanent fear of exile and may have committed a crime to do so

but done the country a great service. they were quick to fire back and congressman peter king said of the "new york times" they have a blame america first rack and go out of their way to be apologizing for terrorists and go after law enforcement and military who are trying to win the war. facebook is the far get of a lawsuit and claims the social networking site spied on private messages between users without their permission and also suggests facebook used data from those conversations situations and gave it to third-party marketers and said it violated federal and state privacy laws and a facebook person says the lawsuit is without merit. police have a suspect in the murder of a catholic priest and gary bulloch was arrested on thursday and say it's a crime of opportunity and have evidence linking him to the crime scene and eric freed was found dead in

the church on few years day and he had written a book about the first atomic bomb. a man appears to be back from the dead with a very different look. aubry lee price fooled people into thinking he committed suicide and a judge said he was dead and he was wanted for a $21 million wire fraud and authorities arrested price in south georgia after pulling him over for his vehicle's illegally tinted windows. 52 people stuck in a ship surrounded by ice for 9 days are finally heading home but in a new twist there could be more troubles and dominick cain has more on what began on research eve. >> this is the akademik shokalskiy stranded for more than a week and it trapped the passengers and crew and defeated previous rescue attempts and

thursday morning brought a welcome development. it's 5:30 on the second of january and we just heard the helicopter from a chinese ice breaker is heading over to check out our helipad behind me and if it's all well we will be off in about an hour's time. their ordeal began on christmas eve as the antarctica weather drew in and since then stwo international ice breakers tried to clear a path through the ice, both have failed. but this has not dampened the enthusiasm of passengers many of whom are scientists and experts on climate change. this was how they greeted the new year. [singing] . >> having fun and doing science. >> reporter: early on thursday morning the severe conditions threatened the air lift that would bring them to safety. but a sudden improvement in the weather brought the best news

possible. >> the helicopters to take us home, thanks everyone. >> reporter: the passengers are being taken to an australian ship outside the ice. they are expected to be back on dry land if a few week's time, dominick cain, al jazeera. >> the chinese ship snow dragon will try to push through the ice into open water saturday, the vessel carrying the passengers is on stand by in case anything goes wrong. wall street and the worst start and stock futures are little changed and dow is 16441. the s&p 5 00's 1831. nasdaq 4143. asia markets ended in the red, it was closed for the new year holidays and will resume trading on monday. european markets are slightly higher. a big day for boeing and the

machine union, union members will vote on the latest contract offer today. the union rejected an offer in november and since then boeing received offers from 22 states to relocate production of the jet and the contract will guaranty the plane is produced in seattle area but the offer will eliminate the traditional pension plan for 401(k) and one strategist said the union is under pressure to vote for the contract. >> not only would they lose jobs but also millions of dollars in contributions to the international fund. boeing, yeah, it would be really difficult for them to relocate, you know, a whole entire operation of the triple 7 x to another state but states are offering big incentives and big tax breaks. >> reporter: results of the vote are expected to be announced later. major auto makers release the monthly sales figures this morning and expect year-end deals to drive up sales from a

year earlier and making 2013 the best year for auto sales since the recession and says 2014 is also expected to be strong. a really great 2013 for the auto industry. we had some record sales, almost every single month. in addition to there we are looking at future growth into 2014 with some really great product coming up, from pretty much every manufacturer. >> and sales are expected to rise again this year the pace of auto sales is expected to slow. one of the thoughts behind obamacare is that it would reduce the strain on emergency rooms. why the flood of newly-ensured patients could actually do the opposite. a massive ice sculpting festival is a winter wonder land and booming and getting bigger and better every year. and we have lingering snow for the northeast but another part of the country already starting to see blizzards and watches and warnings going up, i'll have

your national forecast. >> taking a live look at costly square in boston where the snow keeps come down. ♪ >> this sunday... >> scholars and writers, policy makers an

♪ welcome back to al jazeera america. just ahead the winter wonder land, you have to brave sub zero temperatures to see in person but first let's see where the snow and rain may fall across the country today and metrologist nicole mitchell is back, nicole. >> speaking of winter wonder land we had one recently, parts of the northeast with the snow and i want to point out this next brewing system, this one will cause a lot of problems as well. let's get to a couple of the areas this morning. for the northeast a lot of this is starting to clear out, the heavier snow and so really through the morning picking up inches in a couple of places and by noon a lot of this will be over and blowing because of the wind and watch visibilities and temperatures will be dropingly behind all of that. here is the forecast so you can see a little bit more for the

coast and northern minnesota and northern portions of the rockys and that is our next concern. because not only is this next system going to really just drop those temperatures well below zero as we get into early next week but already this snow and the wind associated with it is causing blizzard watches and warnings to go out for northern minnesota and north dakota. more on that coming up, in a little bit and back to you. >> thank you. a new study finds people who recently enrolled in medicaid went to the emergency room far more often than other americans. the report in the journal of science say millions are getting health insurance under obamacare and followed a limited expansion of medicaid in oregon five years ago and found over the first 18 months 42% of new medicaid enrollees visited the emergency room compared to 35% of people from the same group not selected for medicaid in an oregon lottery. over all new medicaid recipients

visited the er 40% more than other americans. only about half of female marines in one south carolina boot camp can do three pull ups, the minimum standard that was supposed to take effect this year and the poor results prompted them to delay and part of the process to move women into combat jobs. it will start using genetically modified organisms in cherios and weeks ago they began to use pure cane instead of beach and they have concerns or genetically modified and there is little research on this. the frosty wonder land, in the northern part of the country puts on a dazzling sculpture and

the number of visitors increase every year. >> finishing touches to this year's winter collection and loc local sculpters say the competition overseas is getting tougher. >> translator: people are using more sophisticated tools. >> reporter: growing steadily since it began at the turn of the century, the last few years have seen the festival boom with 25% growth in the last year alone. >> translator: as the economy keeps growing people have more money to travel and want to go to interesting places. >> reporter: it's after dark that the festival comes to life and the numbers are apparent in spite of nighttime temperatures of minus 25 degrees and below. having planned and saved civil servants and his wife are

bringing their five-year-old daughter here for the first time. it's their only holiday this year from northern china but already planning next year. >> translator: we want to go to tibet. >> then after that we want to go abroad. >> reporter: growing wealth and reforms like partial relaxation relaxation of one child policy and china in 2014 is looking pretty rosy right now, al mcbride. >> reporter: in the 13th year the ice and snow festival has castles and empire state building made with ice blocks from the frozen river and thomas joins us with a look at the stories we are following for the next hour. >> good morning, public schools in boston and new york city are closed because of the snow storm that is in the northeast with

bone-chilling temperatures and some areas have seen two feet of snow and john kerry goes to the east and going to the west bank to be with the president. and thousands of fighters with links to al-qaeda have taken over government buildings in two key iraq cities and calling for reenforcement. watching a snow storm in the northeast another is targeting the midwest and i'll have the forecast and thomas and i are with you in just 2 1/2 minutes. ♪

(vo) al jazeera america we understand that every news story begins and ends with people. >> the efforts are focused on rescuing stranded residents. (vo) we pursue that story beyond the headline, past the spokesperson, to the streets. >> thousands of riot police deployed across the capitol. (vo) we put all of our global resources behind every story. >> it is a scene of utter devastation. (vo) and follow it no matter where it leads, all the way to you. al jazeera america. take a new look at news.

>> 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

>> a storm packing a powerful 1-2 punch crushes the northeast. heavy snow and whipping winds brought several states to a stand still. >> john kerry holding new talks aiming to bring israelis and palestinians together. >> destroying syria's chemical weapons, the american ship that will play a big role in the process. >> i'm homeless, so it's up to me. i can't sit back and wait for somebody to do something for me. >> being homeless in the winter, struggling on the street as temperatures drop and the know w piles up.

>> good morning, and welcome to aljazeera america. i'm stephanie sy. >> a lot of people will be digging out this morning. the storm is blamed for two deaths in illinois. >> a state of emergency with blizzard like conditions expected through the morning, new york city canceled school for more than 1 million kids and grounded hundreds of flights at area airports. >> but it's sub freezing temperatures moving into the area that are the most concerning, temperatures expected to dip to minus 10 degrees by the weekend and it's even worse further north in new england. >> some areas have seen as much

as 22 inches of snow with more expected. the lows in boston will be well below zero and part of maine could see the mercury drop to minus 30. >> from the midwest to the northeast, more than 100 million people are feeling the effects of this dangerous new year's storm. north of chicago, residents are digging out from 16 inches of snow and crews working to clear roads. >> my truck started tailgating on four wheel drive. it doesn't matter. >> the storms full furry hit the northeast last night. >> a nor'easter is a monster. >> parts of massachusetts have been battered with up to two feet of snow and that state's governor has a warning for residents. >> we are expecting extreme cold, beginning this evening with wind chills in parts of the state, some 25-30 degrees below

zero. that is a hazard to human life and health. >> government workers were forced to go home early. it was the last act of business for a mayor leaving office after 20 years. >> i guess mother nature wanted to give me one more gift, a snowstorm. >> flipping pickups, beaching tractor trailers in snow and causing this fender bender with a massachusetts state please cruiser. from pennsylvania to washington, d.c., plows have been competing with commuters. >> we're mainly concerned about it freezing up. we get them running early. >> no relief in the skies as stranded passengers struggled to get home. flight aware.com is reporting

already more than 8,000 flights have been delayed or canceled. >> i i have a worried mom at he who's freaking oh allot that i'm not home, i'm trying to get home. >> we have reporters tracking the impact of this storm. we are live in new york city where the conditions forced local officials to close public schools. we begin first in hard-hit boston, dumped with more than a foot of snow and it's not over yet. we are standing by, john, good morning. i understand that you heard from the governor of massachusetts. what did he have to say? >> stephanie, good morning, yes, it's just first light here in the square where the boston marathon ends, three degrees, with the michigan feels like minus 18 at the moment. we asked why there wasn't a state of emergency declared. he doesn't think he needs to. governor christie has in new jersey, in new york they have,

he he said he doesn't think they have to. he said so far within the storm has behaved reasonably, no reports of deaths or serious injuries or only apparently about a thousand power outages in the whole state of massachusetts, which is in the eye of this storm. in the great scheme of things, that's really not very much. he said there is more than 3,000 pieces of equipment trying to clear this up. boston south bay, south shore, down to the holiday areas of the cape and islands, there, there's real concern, because the forecast is for a dump of two feet of snow plus a high tide surge mid-day today. there's already been some local flooding down there, a little breaching of one of the sea walls and they're really worried about that. the snow will continue well into the afternoon in that part of massachusetts, it may well be snowing all day there.

the snow is due to clear out by early afternoon. >> keeping us up to tate from boston, thanks. >> we are on storm watch in new york city where many roads and schools are closed. back ice is a major concern this morning with the frozing temperatures. >> absolutely. the snow has been coming down steadily for hours, really creating quite a mess on the roads. in fact, j.f.k. international airport, its runways over there, they decided to close. they're going to reopen at 8:00 a.m. that's certainly a big deal, huge international airport, city schools closed today, kids are going to spend friday playing in this light and fluffy snow here that's really expected to continue coming down for hours, nine inches expected for new

york city. >> new york mayor sworn in only two days ago will be tested early as the city's first snowstorm of 2014 takes aim at the big apple and the rest of the state. >> mother nature is starting the new year showing us who's really in charge. >> new york's governor issued a state of emergency, closing roadways overnight, including long island expressway. >> so far, it's a mess. they're doing not too bad on the main roads, but the side roads are just horrible. >> on long island where blizzard conditions are expected, plows have been cutting and clearing a path in the race against time for this morning's commute. long island r. passengers will have to asked just to a weekend schedule this morning. >> my plan is to wake up tomorrow morning and look at the window, get the snowblower out and try to get to work. >> working hard in new york city, scraping up the accumulation of snow from the

bronx to brooklyn. >> get the preliminary's done, because it's going to build up. i have to get a head start. i've got to be at work early. >> 1700 plows and 450 salt spreaders hit the streets as soon as the snow started falling. he did not declare a snow emergency. at the airports. >> we've been training since august for just such an event. >> crews will continually clean the runways and roadways. airlines will individually decide if or when they will delay you incoming or outgoing flights. >> our goal is to work throughout the night, keep up with the storm and try to deliver safe runways and taxi ways. >> some of the stranded will have to wait until this weekend to get flights, like this man at laguardia airport, trying to get home to florida. >> we've got a flight for 6:00 a.m. saturday and you have j.f.k., because tomorrow, they said it's pretty much all canceled already, so we're just

here for the night. >> the fire department of new york, the fdny added more planses to get to people in need. in addition, on those ambulances, they've got snow chains on the tires, so that's something that is really of a concern here, because these roads are so messy. they've also added more staff to the 911 call system to man that system and take calls in. meanwhile, we are also hearing the j.f.k. international airport is going to be closed an additional half hour, opening at 8:30 a.m. we have quite a mess out here and it's still going. >> it's beautiful to look at, but no fun trying to get around, even many of the cab drivers of taking a break because the roads are so bad. >> if you're someone like me, i'm from california, if you don't know how to drive in it, don't go out there. >> stay home. it is quite a mess. i want to bring in meteorologist nicole mitchell for the latest on the storm, yesterday, you talked about the potential of

the testimony becoming a blizzard. is that what you saw? >> really no. i've heard people refer to it as a blizzard on different stations. what you have to have for that is two criteria. it is not based on how much snow you get at all. you just have to have winds to 35 miles per hour for three hours or greater and at the same time advice bile a quarter mile or less. you can have very little snow and a blizzard condition if you're getting those reduced visibilities, but we didn't have winds in a lot of cases sustained at that level or visibilities that low for a long enough period of time. we did have some impressive show totals, though. massachusetts, one of the highest places at just under two feet. bigger cities, then we're looking at a little bit less, no arc at the airport, we're talking about all the airport delays, 4.5 inches so far, five inches in new york, but there's still a little bit coming down. we still have a number of watches and warnings up for the

region just for the fact of what's on the ground already is going to continue to blow through the morning, a little bit more coming down, but with the wind gusts, we're seeing philadelphia, a 30-mile per hour wind gust. that's going to continue to make those roads treacherous. i can drive in it, it's still not pleasant to try to do that. that line is getting closer to the coastline and already by the time we get to 8:00 or 9:00, a lot of this will be moving out quickly, could see a few peaks of sun by the end of the day. we already have another system on its heels. i'll have more of that coming up. this one has a chance of having blizzard conditions with it. >> secretary of state john kerry heads to the west bank meeting with palestinian president today. he met with israeli prime minister. he is trying to get two sides to hammer out the framework for a peace deal. we are joined live from jerusalem now. nick, secretary kerry really

restarted these peace talks for this decades old conflict back in july. he was going to give it nine months. we're at the halfway mark now. has there been any progress? >> not a whole lot. u.s. officials are really describing what kerry's doing as small baby steps. what kerry said yesterday is all he's trying to do here is talk about the differences for a framework for the guidelines of the talk. that's actually the words he used, so nowhere near any kind of agreement. what we're talking about is talking about what we're going to talk about, that despite the fact that they've been talking for six months, and met 20 times. what kerr require is now trying to say is look, now's the time where you have to make some concessions, now is the time where you have to make some hard choices. what he's getting privately and publicly from both sides is positioning, both blaming the other side for the possible future failure of the talk and we especially heard that

yesterday from israeli prime minister netanyahu. >> i know that you are committed to peace. i know that i'm committed to peace, but unfortunately, given the actions and words of palestinian leaders, there's doubt that the palestinians are committed to peace. >> the time is soon arriving where leaders are going to have to make difficult decisions. we are close to that time, if not at it. >> what u.s. officials are saying that kerry is saying behind the scenes is those concessions, those hard choices, he wants him to make those in the next few weeks, perhaps no more than the next month or so. what he's hoping by the stripping is to get a piece of paper where both sides say yes, this is what ear going to talk about in the future and right how to, that's the goal,

stephanie. >> but there are so many remaining road blocks, nick. kerry was able to get this small concession from israel that they aren't dealing with new settlement, but will that last. >> the settlements are a hot topic right now and such a road block. last week, israeli officials called journalists, foreign and israeli and say we are going to announce 1400 more settlements, the palestinians expressed outrage. israeli believes that it can build anywhere it wants to in the west bank, land captured in the 1967 war. palestinians say if you really want peace, really want a two state solution, how can you keep building these settlements, which the u.n. calls illegal and how can you keep building them on land we hope is the heart of the future palestinian state? the israelis say we have the right to, and also it's very popular among right wing israelis especially and the base

for prime minister benjamin netanyahu to push those settlements forward. that announcement has been delayed until after kerry leaves, clearly no concession there if that settlement announcement continues to take place next week and the palestinians react with furry and even threaten to pull out of the talks if that takes place. >> as far apart as ever, it seems. >> iraqi jets are targeting arms groups in two cities as groups aligned with al-qaeda seized control of several police stations. fighting has continued all week in the same cities where many american troops were killed during the war. gunman attacked the plain police station in i fallujah. a group link said with al-qaeda

is involved. >> in custody for six days, our journalists are held in a prison outside cairo. egypts are prosecutor is accusing them of joining a terrorist group and spreading lies harmful to state security. aljazeera says the accusations are fabricated, has condemned the arrests and demanding their immediate release. >> some in a the republicans are calling on afghan president to sign a new security agreement with the u.s. tribal leaders approved the deal in november, but since then, karzai said he won't sign off on it until after elections in april. waiting to get it done would pose a threat to afghanistans in the region. >> we've explained to our afghan friends that unless we resolve these differences, the united states of america has no choice but to not continue with its commitment, something we don't

want to do, but is something that can't be totally ruled out. >> after meeting with president karzai thursday, mccain said those differences could be resolved soon. if the deal isn't signed, they will have to leave by the end of the year. >> officials say the security situation in south sudan is quickly deterioratedding, the state department warning all americans to leave after the government wanders of rebel fighters moving toward the capitol city, juba. ceasefire talks are now underway in ethiopia but the two sides have not yet met face-to-face. it's believed more than 1,000 people have been killed in three weeks of fighting between rival ethnic groups. >> south korea dismissing calls to improve ties with north

korea. he warned of a ties would need to begin with nuclear disarmament. >> obsessed with the release of three chinese ethnic mines, the chinese foreign ministry saw the the repatriotion of the men. they were not returned to china on fears they could be tortured. they were sent to slovakia. their release is another step toward closing the guantanamo bay facility. >> the search is on for the suspect of a consulate talk in san francisco. the suspect is shown parking a van in front of the building before pouring two buckets of gasoline on the front gate, setting it on fire. the f.b.i. said the blaze is not treated as an act of terrorism. china is calling on the u.s. to provide adequate protection to the consulate.

>> at least one body was pulled out of the rubble from an explosion at an apartment building in minneapolis. investigators believe a gas leak caused the accident that injured 14 people. authorities are trying to verify what caused the explosion. >> disposing of syria's chemical weapons. >> it's a dangerous operation that the u.s. is taking on. >> we'll look at the ship that will handle the unprecedented mission. >> markets taking a tumble to kick off the new year. what's got investors in a selling mood to start 2014. >> $112 billion, it's our big number of the day, and a big figure for the airline industry. we'll tell you what it could mean for one of the world's biggest jet makers. millions who need assistance now.

we appreciate you spending time with us tonight. up next is the golden age of hollywood going golden but elsewhere. why l.a.'s mayor has declared a state of emergency for the entertainment industry there. next.

>> today's big number is a welcome one tort struggling airline industry, $112 billion, that's what aircraft plaintiffer bowing predicts it will do in sales for 2014. >> a major decision by the union

machinists today could impact how much of that money will go into the company's pact. union members will decide whether to accept a contract concede ink pens and health care benefits in order to keep assembly of the company's new airplane in washington state. if a deal isn't reached, bowing says it will move to another state. despite the contract battle, it still plans to release the first version of its jets in mid 2020. >> it's going to be a large plane. any chance the seats will be bigger? not a chance as they try to make more profit. welcome back to aljazeera america. >> up next, a daunting task for the u.s. as it prepares to help dispose of syria's chemical weapons arsenal. we'll break down the steps the crews will take to eliminate the stockpile. >> first, parts of the country are seeing record low temperatures, not only the snow, but it is bitterly cold out there. nicole mitchell joining us once again. >> what we're seeing this morning is temperatures, negatives, places like minneapolis at minus four,

temperatures dropping into the northeast. no records quite this morning that we're locking at, but when you add in the wind chill to the northeast with those same winds driving the snow around this morning, look at what this feels like, minus 37 in toronto, cleveland, where we got about a foot of snow with all this, minus seven and minus eight this morning in new york. now, those temperatures will go down overnight as the skies color and so overnight, still staying with some of those wind chill's below zero. i want to mention midwest, a brief warm up today in rapid city with the southwest wind. we have a system coming in from the north. next week, we could see temperatures early in the week, the high temperatures for the day, so cold, we set all time records, so definitely when cold air moving in. we're going to have to watch that very closely. back to you. >> wonder what our friends in miami are saying this morning, 76 down there. nicole, thank you. >> leaders of syria's main opposition group the syrian national coalition are in

meetings to elect a new president. in a few minutes, peace talks are supposed to get underway. it's the first time representatives from the assad regime and syrian opposition will sit down face-to-face since the civil war began three years ago. turkey is calling for unity ahead that have meeting. >> an american cargo ship in virginia is set to leave on an unprecedented mission to destroy syria's chemical agents at sea. as aljazeera explains, it's very delicate operation. >> it may have been rejected by every country asked, but for the u.s. an important chance to use its system at sea. neutralizing chemical weapons with water, bleach and cause stick soda on land is proven technology, but doing so at sea is unprecedented. the pentagon is confident it can be done. >> this is not new technology. this is not a high-risk thing

that hasn't been done before. machines similar to this have been used for 10 years now to destroy our own chemical materials, so we have people who understand it very well and will be able to operate them safely. >> once the 700 tons of gas and chemicals for sarin and v.x. or onboard, it might take 90 days to complete that would be a month on land. the man variable is the weather. >> the people working in the hold, feeding those precursor chemicals into the neutralization equipment, this is the only physical operations that are going to take place, and if the ship rolls or pitches too much, then, of course, that could be hazardous. >> another challenge will be ensuring the continuous operation of the hide controls system. >> it won't be dumped as sea,

but stored onboard and given to commercial companies for disposal. >> all the chemicals will be insulated. >> no liquid nor gas will be able to escape from the ship, unless it has passed through a number of filters and harbors. >> as for how the cargo will be secured at sea, it's been widely reported that a chinese military vessel would protect it in what would be beiging's first mission in the mediterranean. aljazeera was told she did not know if that was true. >> syria was supposed to remove key elements of its chemical weapons stockpile by the end of 2013, but the u.n. says the civil war logistical problems and bad weather have held up their plans. >> in business headlines, a calm on wall street, stock futures higher, do you futures up 11 points after 2014 got off to a weak start. the dow starts the day at

16,000, 441. the nasdaq is standing at 4,143. in asia, markets ended in the red. nikkei will resume trading monday. european markets are higher. >> auto sales are expected to stay in the fast lane, major automakers released their month sales figures this morning and up 4% from december a year earlier, making 2013 the best year for auto sales since before the recession. new lending rules could put a dapper on 2014 sales. >> we have new regulations coming in from the federal government. they're going to require that the auto dealers doing these finances are going to do a debt to equity comparison for consumers, causing many consumers to be unable to purchase a car. >> auto sales are expected to rise again but not at the 2013 pace. >> it's not just cars selling

well. manhattan's apartment market ended 2013 with a bang. appraisers are reporting apartment sales jumped 27% in the last three months of the year, marking the highest fourth quarter on record. limited supply and recognizing mortgage rates are making rentallals more attractive. the median price was $855,000 in the fourth quarter. >> a nasty winter storm pounding the most. >> plenty of people are waking up to snow, wind and bitter temperatures. >> we'll find who's getting the brunt of this winter wallop. >> pushing for peace, the challenges facing secretary of state john kerry as he holds his latest round of meetings with israeli and palestinian leaders. >> bring home the gold, how russian athletes look to change perceptions about their home country at the sochi winter olympics. >> i'm mark morgan. the games are drawing closer and on the ice, three women are vying for the goal tending job

for the national hock co team. we'll tell you about their friendly competition, coming up.

>> 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 real reporting that brings you the world. giving you a real global

perspective like no other can. real reporting from around the world. this is what we do. al jazeera america. >> good morning on this friday, welcome to aljazeera america. i'm thomas drayton. >> i'm stephanie sy. the snowstorm hammering the eastern part of the u.s. is creating a lot of problems this morning. let's look at times square here in new york city, pretty empty. there are a lot of school conditionslations and canceled flights. we'll get a closer look at when of the other problems mother nature is claiming. >> forget getting a cab, getting around is going to be difficult. >> overseas, secretary of state john kerry is meeting with israeli and palestinian leaders today, trying to jump start talks for peace. he is pushing for a spring deadline. kerry is facing plenty of resistance and skepticism.

we're talking with an expert about what it will take to see results from kerry's work. >> such a complicated negotiation going on there. we are also talking about the sochi olympics, where just a little over a month away, and of course this week's twin suicide bombings have people with their eyes on russia and the potential problems with the sochi olympics, russia trying to rehab its image. we look how russian athletes will shine a positive light. >> millions are people are waking up to a blanket of snow outside their doors this morning. a major snowstorm has been pummeling the northeast, shutting down roads, schools and office was. from washington, the snow is still falling in many areas. >> snowplows did their best, but take a look at these roads. >> road's are terrible. >> it's slippery, alleges scary. >> in massachusetts, schools closed early, the governor told

tate worker to say stay home, but some people had to get to work. >> everyone sort of makes their own lane and eventually, the lines mean nothing. >> an accident just a mile from here, a car went right through the median right in front of us. >> new york sent out 1700 snowplows, major expressways there are closed. in pennsylvania, snow started falling during the evening rush hour, causing a chain reaction pile up. >> danger's out there, the roads are very slippery. >> some areas are expecting a foot or more, but the problem isn't just snow, it's windy. >> we get very nervous about winds that are over 40 miles an hour. >> and it's cold, temperatures across the northeast will dip into the teens today, with wind chills down to 30 below zero. >> it is very cold. >> i'm layered up. i have like four pairs of pants on and four sweatshirts, so i'm cold. >> flooding a concern along the coast, snow is expected to continue falling through mid morning. >> tracy pots reporting from

washington, d.c. the cold will continue to dip. there's concern about the black ice. the snow melting salt loses effectiveness at 10 degrees to 20 degrees. >> parents of a brain dead girl are back in court. the parents have found facility that can take care of their daughter but still can't find a doctor to perform the medical procedure required for her transfer. the 12-year-old went in for a routine procedure to get rid of her tonsils and is now brain dead because of cool applications following surgery. >> california's highest court rules an undon't immigrant can practice law in the state. sergio garcia paled the bar in 2009 but not been allowed to practice law. the rule has some ambiguities. he can practice law for free and may be able to work as an

independent contractor and charge fees. federal law prohibits employers from hiring non-citizens without a green card like garcia. >> secretary of state john kerry is playing mediator in the middle east. this morning, he met with israeli officials and later will talk with the palestinian president. thursday, during a press concepts, prime minister netanyahu flatly said he was unsure the negotiations will work. >> i know that you are committed to peace. i know that i am committed to peace, but unfortunately, given the actions and words of palestinian leaders, there's growing d doubt in israel that e palestinians are committed to peace. >> joining us is professor of international relations and middle east studies, joining us this morning.

not a bad place to be here on a snowy day in the mideast. thank you for being with us. netanyahu offered a gloomy assessment. is he basically giving himself an out if talks fail by placing blame on the palestinian leadership? >> i think it's ironic that the prime minister suggests that the palestinians are not committed to peace when in fact he himself continues to expands the settlements and this is certainly sending the wrong message both to the israels and to the palestinians and does not indicate that he, himself is in fact committed to a two state solution. certainly the palestinians are not helpful, either insisting on the right to return, which is a non-scatter with israelis and that, too, doesn't suggest that

he is completely committed to peace. what's happening here, they both are polarizing their own respect to public and that is certainly not helpful to the peace process. >> i know the terms of any final deal is still in the distance. you've been following these talks closely. what do you make of the progress so far and is a spring deadline set by secretary kerry too ambitious? >> i don't think there has been any much progress thus far and the reason being that both sides are holding to extreme positions, that it's extremely difficult to reconcile, so some are suggesting that instead of reaching a final agreement by april, they may eventually agree on some kind of an interim agreement. i don't think that, too, is going to be much helpful, considering the volatile situation in the middle east altogether. so my prediction, if i should say that, could say that, is

that not much really will be achieved and if anything, it's going to be ambiguous enough that both people will be able to manipulate it in months to come. >> looking back at the this time line, there needs to be compromise. i'm sure you would agree on both sides. what will the key issues be to getting this deal done, possible road blocks, you talked about halt in more settlements. >> the important thing is to agree on borders. once you agree, israeli can do what it would like to do in the settlement, the palestinians will have for themselves defined exactly what their state is going to look like, then you talk about security for israeli as well as for the palestinians, but by insisting, for example, that security be dealt first by the israelis, that does not allow for the process to continue in a manner that could make any progress forward, so i

think and i have been suggesting this all along, that borders ought to be established, but even more importantly, that the united states ought to put its foot down and both sides need to understand there will be consequences if they are not going to follow a general framework that has been negotiated so many times in the past. >> the talks continue, no easy solution to a conflict that has been ongoing for quite some time, professor, thank you for your time. >> at least six people were killed following explosion in lebanon. thursday's attack took place in a hezbollah strong hold right in the heart of southern beirut. as we report, that's just a few miles away from where lebanon's former minister died in a car bombing last week. >> a building facade ripped away, a populated commercial area with shops and schools, a familiar scene in the lebanese capitol. the explosion this time, a car

bomb, in the heart of the beirut southern suburbs, a strong hold of hezbollah, the see ya arms groups whose members are fighting inside syria with forces loyal to the president. >> it targets everyone. it doesn't matter where they're from. the perpetrators are trying to incite violence among the lebanese. >> lebanon is to stranger to retaliatory bombing and fighting. days ago, the former finance minister was blown up in beiruts central business district. he had lobbied for the establishment of an international tribunal looking into the death of the former prime minister killed in a bomb attack in beirut in february, 2005. before him, the senior hezbollah military commander was shot to death near his home. before that, a suicide bombing outside the iranian embassy. >> there are certain parties who

would stand before us that don't want this to take place. they don't want the lebanese to be part of that government and i believe this would open the way wide those who want to destabilize the situation in lebanon. >> no one has claimed responsibility yet for this latest bombing, but for many lebanese, it's yet another indication of darker days to come. >> aljazeera, beirut, southern suburbs. >> the u.s. state democratic condemned the attack, calling on all parties to refrain from acts of retaliation that would "threaten lebanon's stability and the lives and livelihood of the lebanese people." >> the n.s.a. is reportedly racing to build a quantum computer that could crack every kind of encryption, according to documents leaked by former n.s.a. contractor edward snowden. the computer is still years away from completion but could break fire walls and banking, medical, business and computers around the world. even secure websites used to

protect state secrets would be vulnerable. it's part of an $80 million research program underway in college park, maryland. >> two major newspapers, which published revelations from edward snowden are now calling for clemency. this week, they published op eds urging the government to give up the pursuit of the contractor. the editorial in the times wrote. critics fired back. republican king said: >> hosting the winter olympics

were a coup for russia, but the sochi gales are threat thatting to turn into a public relations disaster. after two suicide bombings this week and crackdown on gay rights, some world leaders are staying away. >> there is a fierce streak of pay the ream. world leaders won't be making an appearance at the winter games. that doesn't matter says russia's olympic chief. >> the olympic games is a sporting event for athletes. it's not a summit for the heads of state. >> there's much resting on the russian team to perform well. they'll be on home ground, there

will be no excuses. >> this is where russia's winter olympic hopes lie, out on the ice. the national hockey squad and ice skaters are the bright lights in these winter olympics, going for gold in sochi. >> also salvaging russia's olympic reputation. it's the night of february 25, 2010, russia hotly tipped, facing canada for a place in the quarter finals. the vancouver winter olympics nightmare was about to begin. russia was thrashed 7-3 by canada. the russian coach talked about erecting scaffolds in red square for the team on their return. it was a national humiliation. the figure skaters fared little better. the skaters failed to win gold. the cold war years when the soviet athlete, backed by the soviet state ruled all are long gone. there's lots riding for president putin.

$50 billion are poured into these winter games with brand new facilities in sochi. the bombing in volgograd have blighted the games. it is pledged to disrupt the olympics. >> i asked our followers to do the best to stop the satan dance on the bones of our ancestors. >> putin promised to make the games the safest ever. there is much at stake for the russian president and russian winter olympics in the following four weeks. aljazeera, moscow. >> a lot of negative news to overcome. the winter games kick off the first week of february. >> we are joined now with a look at athletes who will represent the red, white and blue in sochi. >> good story here, we're going to pass this along to everybody. imagine going to work every day

and imagine if you make the slightest mistake, a red light bulb flashes and buzzes above your head for everybody to see, well, welcome to the alive of a goalie. now on new year's day at the nhl winter classic, the national hockey team named its trio of goal tenders for the games. these women are embracing the spotlight. >> brianne, jesse and molly have been camped out since early september with the rest of the u.s. national team, just outside of boston, prepping for the upcoming winter olympics in sochi, russia. each brings something different to the table between the pipes. >> what is it that makes jesse a good goalie? >> she does a great job of sometimes she gets scored and and you can see her giggling through her mask. sometimes you get frustrated in the net in practice if you're having a rough day and she's always giggling and that kind of immediately can bring anybody out of a funk, i think. >> these players are on my team.

they are good. good shot, way to go guys, i'm glad you're on my team. >> i think she has the widest butterfly we have ever seen. if you're going to score, i would not go low ever. she's like a wall. >> she can be more serious, she's like pay attention. >> being a goalie, i always use the word forgetful, because you're going to get bounces against you, they're going to score, the biggest thing is just to forget it and continue making saves and keep playing. >> ladies, of all the positions you could possibly play in hockey, the three of you chose one that has an ate mile per hour puck coming at your face. why? >> it goes back to the seven siblings and brothers. i always say i was forced into the position as a young kid, you want to play no quo, those pads are protective. they weren't. i had bruises all over my body. >> it shaped who we are, i was

the only girl in our baseball league for a while. you get used to it. you work hard to prove you belong with the boys and it makes you better, more competitive. >> you would think having three goalies would create tension amongst the teammates, but instead, they say it's actually brought them closer. >> we're always together, because it's kind of like put the goalies over there or something. we went on a team vacation and it always seemed like the three of us kind of were always together on the beach or something like that. i don't know whether it was no one else wanted to hang out with you also or what, but that's when we started being friends. >> there's little doubt sochi gold will go through canada. the international rivalry is even more intense. >> it's hard, i think winning silver, because you lose that ultimate gail, where as bronze, you end on a high note, you, i.

there's obviously a lot of spoils. for me personally, it took a couple days. we ended up flying back to the states and when we go back, there were people waiting at the gate congratulating us so excited. it really hit home what we had done and what an accomplishment winning the silver medal was. >> what would it mean to win gold? >> i think it would just mean all our hard work paid off. obviously we have different goals and different successes that we can have throughout this process, but, you know, that would definitely be something special to be able to walk away with that gold medal. >> in bed ford, massachusetts, jessica taft, aljazeera. >> all right, jessica, tanks so much. team u.s.a. will play its first hockey game against finland on february 8. >> getting excited. >> no more g.m.o. >> which company is pulling it from its popular cereals. >> obesity rise, why a number of growing countries have growing

waist lines. >> trying to survive winter without a roof over your head, nasty weather is making life even more challenging for homeless americans. [[voiceover]] no doubt about it, innovation changes our lives.

>> govern, welcome back to aljazeera america. i'm stephanie sy. >> i'm thomas drayton. >> the number of homeless people have been dropping in this country, but that does not mean much for peel on the streets during this harsh winter weather. we'll take a closer look at challenges they face. >> first, let's get the latest on this winter storm hitting the eastern seaboard today. meteorologist anymore mitch is back. >> this storm was a combination of two systems, the early frames, you can see the northern and southern, everything merging together, so the two areas have impacted a lot of the country, but now, finally, that snow is starting to taper off and you can see we're just getting to the coastline under that. there's still going to be blowing snow after that because of the wind especially through noon, watch for those concerns. through the midwest, we have the next one moving in. i would say this one has better chances of becoming a blizzard in some cases as the know moves

in, not a lot of snow, but the high wind and reduced visibility could make that actually fit that classification. i'll have more on what's coming in in the northeast coming in in just a little bit. >> obesity rates have tripled in the definitely that ohing world. a new report says says a third of adults in those countries are now either overweight or obese. there is no single reason for the increase. a change in diet including more fats, sugars, salts oils and health have contributed to the increase. a recent u.n. report shows mexico purr passed the u.s. as the most obese nation in the western hemisphere. china is seeing an increase, overweight people doubling there. >> general mills will stop using genetically modified org initials in cheerios. it said its oats have neve

contained gmos, but changed sugar. many have expressed concern over genetically modified foods. at this time, there is little scientific evidence proving they are unsafe. >> freezing temperatures are a nuisance for most of us, deadly for others, especially those who live on the streets. the numbers are on the rice in new york city. the new mayor is looking to change that trend. >> on a normal night, thousands of people sleep on a the streets of new york. >> i can't sit back and wait for the city to do anything for me. that i already snow my situation, i'm homeless. >> as new york braces for temperatures in the single digits, high winds and heavy snow, the city and non-profit organizations are scrambling to provide shelter and warm clothes for the homeless. according to the coalition for the homeless, 60,000 people have no place to stay on a given night in new york. the fastest growing segment of the homeless population is

children. >> there will be at least 22,000 children who will sleep in shutters, about 10,000 homeless families in the system today. every day, anywhere from 100-150 families show up at the in take center at the new york city center seeking shelter, so it's a problem that's been growing over the last several years and certainly is not diminishing, it's only growing. >> this storm is a storm within a storm. >> organizations that help the homeless say resources are already stretched very thin. new york cares has received request for 104,000 winter coats, but only 22,000 have been donated. >> it's the lowest amount of donations in the charity's history. >> imagine trying to do anything in the next few days without a coat. people, families, are only sending some of their kids or maybe none of their kids to school, because they don't have warm enough coats. >> the decisions are very real. there's a lot of new yorkers choosing between food and buying a coat, choosing between paying their bills and buying a coat.

>> hard choices, some who have slept on the streets this winter know far too well. >> it ain't good. it and i want good, the door's open. the door's always open. if it's not here, it's a church, if not the church, a hospital. go somewhere. you ain't got to be cold. >> out reach teams will bring those leaping on the streets inside. for those who call the streets home, it's a storm that must be weathered every day. aljazeera, new york. >> the shelters will be busy today. last month, at least four homeless people died from hope poe therm i can't in the san francisco bay area after a sudden drop in temperatures. >> such a need around. del walters is joining us with a look at what we're following this morning. >> as you have been reported i can. public schools in boston and new york city closed today because of that massive tomorrow that has been slapping the northeast with snow and bone chilling

temperatures, some areas seeing two feet of snow. >> secretary of state john kerry is headed now to get the west bank to meet with palestinian president. thousands of fighters linked with al-qaeda have taken over government buildings in two key iraqi cities. >> immigration row form could be a top issue before congress this year. we'll talk to a former aide to president bill clinton to break down whether republicans and democrats will be able to find common ground on this hot button issue. >> one major snowstorm exits the northeast, another target be the midwest. i'll have your national forecast. >> the morning news continues. dell is back with you in two and a half minutes. >> have a safe mong.

>> every sunday night, al jazeera america presents extraordinary films from the worlds top documentary directors this week: is love enough? >> that was a dream of ours... four children.... >> a little girl, removed from everything she's ever known... >> she's gone through a ton of orphan stuff... >> if their hopes don't turn out to be the reality...are they gonna crash? >> an unflinching look at a family learning to love >> i think she could have used a hug... >> dark matter of love on al jazeera america

>> a tomorrow packing a powerful 1-2 punch crushing the northeast, heavy snow and whipping winds bringing several states to a stand still. >> al-qaeda linked fighters threatening to take over two critical iraqi cities, trying to capturery mad da and if a luge. >>.

>> a magical city made entirely of ice. >> good morning, welcome to aljazeera america. i'm del walters. millions of you waking up to a blanket of snow outside your door this morning. the u.s.'s first major snowstorm closing roads, schools and offices began sweeping across the midsection new year's eve, dumping heavy snow and bone chilling temperatures to the heartland. it's already being blamed for two deaths in illinois and another in philadelphia. now it's crippling the northeast, new york and new jersey declaring states of emergency with blizzard conditions expected through the morning. new yorkty is canceling school for more than 1 million kids, that storm also shutting down j.f.k. airport for a few hours this morning, but it is the cold, the bone chicago cold that is causing the greatest concern. temperatures are expected to reach 10 degrees below zero by the weekend, and it's even worth

further north in new england, some states there seeing as much as 22 urges of snow with more expected over the next 12 hours. the lows in boston will be well below zero and parts of maine could see the mercury drop to minus 30. stephanie sy has more. >> from the mid we have to the northeast, more than 100 million people are feeling the effects of this dangerous new year's storm. north of chicago, residents are digging out for more than 16 inches of snow and crews working non-stop, clearing treacherous roads. >> my truck started tailgating, and i have it on four wheel drive, too, and it doesn't matter. >> the storm's full furry hit the northeast overnight. >> this is a big one. no one's getting spared. a near oester really is a monster. >> parts of massachusetts have been battered with up to two feet of snow and the that state's governor has a warning for residents.

>> we are expecting extreme cold beginning this evening with wind chills in parts of the state at some 25-30 degrees below zero. that is a serious hazard to not just road conditions, but to human life and health. >> boston declared a snow emergency, closing schools, banning street parking and forcing government workers to go home early. it was the last act of business for a mayor about to leave office after nearly 20 years. >> i guess mother nature wanted to give me one more gift, a snowstorm. >> slick roads have led to spinouts across new england, flipping pickups, beaching tractor trailers in snow and causing that fender bender with a state police cruiser. from pennsylvania to washington, d.c., plows have been competing with commuters sitting in bumper to bumper traffic. >> we are mainly concerned with it freezing up, we get them

running early. >> no relief in the skies as stranded passengers struggled to get home. it is reported already more than 8,000 flights have been delayed or canceled. >> i have a worried mom at home who's like freaking out right now that i'm not home, be so yeah, i'm trying to get home. >> stephanie sy, aljazeera america. >> nicole mitchell has been tracking the stole over the last 24 hours and is back live. >> the best part of the news is that most of it is over, moving off the coastline. we still have lingering effects to deal with, so allot of these watches and warnings that you see, the winter storm warnings in the brighter blues go until 10:00 a.m. in a lot of cases, because the snow is winding down. let's take a look at all of that and some of the totals we've gotten, when of the most impressive, parts of massachusetts, isolated, though, almost two feet. a lot of the totals significantly less, you get to newark and laguardia, airports

are right around the four to five-inch range, central park about five-inches. it was blowing around, that was part of the problem. i was looking up the reports. i didn't see anywhere that quite made it to blizzard conditions, because for that, you need sustained winds of 35 miles per hour or great are or quarter mile visibility for those same three hours. a lot of the visibilities were higher, winds lower. we have new york and the 20-mile per hour range, so still gusty winds and with temperatures dropping, that's making it feel very cold on the skin, below zero is when the wind chill is in a lot of cases. here's the snow. you can see on the dividing line where this is getting off the coast right now, any places seeing it an inch or less in a lot of cases, maybe just a little bit more as we get more into new england, parts of massachusetts, but it's moving out, but the wind is going to continue to blow it around. it's going to take a little while to clear that out. through the rest of the afternoon, you can see it's going to clear out pretty

quickly and already by later today, there's chances for a little bit of sunshine, which would be great, because temperatures are going to feel cold. that one moves out, this one moves in. the northern parts of north dakota actually better chances for reaching those blizzard criteria that i was just talking about, even though this system doesn't have a lot of snow, it's going to be windy enough to blow it around and possibly cause white out conditions into today and early tomorrow. we'll have more on the temperatures in just a bit. >> in boston, it has been hard hit by this storm. that that is where we find john live in boston where the governor patrick addressed reporters earlier this morning rewarding the storm. john, what did he have to say? >> good morning. we're in downtown boston. there are some people around, but really at this time of day, this would be absolutely packed and really, there's nobody here.

governor patrick saying to reporters earlier on that he didn't feel a need to declare a statewide state of emergency, that the snow had come throughout the night and things had gone reasonably well. he said there were about a thousand power outages, which is not a lot for a storm of this magnitude. the concern is there is still much for snow to come. a few seconds ago, it felt the snow was easing up, but that's been happening, it eases a bit, then comes down again. we are in the middle of a little blizzardy bit right now. we're expecting this to go on for the time being, the concern really is that the power outages will increase as the snow and the ice weigh on the power lines and the boughs of the trees come down and snap that. >> what about the coastal flooding, which is always a concern there? >> yeah, this is the real problem, i think, and i think this is why governor patrick didn't declare a state of

emergency. i think he's waiting to see, because all the snow is scheduled to clear here by a bit later than we thought, maybe 1:00, 2:00, down on the coast, boston south bay, south shore to nantuckett, matter that's vineyard, where people go for the holidays in the summer where it's really warm, the exact opposite of where it is here, a wind chill of minus 18 degrees, by the way, there the forecast is for a dump of about two feet of snow and also coastal flooding. now there was a storm surge at midnight last night, another at mid-day today, there's been holds flooding. some of the big houses down there are blow sea level, so there is some concerned. there's a brand new sea wall that's gone up, it was damaged about a year ago in the storm and they radar it. that's the big test, it pretty much survived, but there has been some breaches along the coast, so some people are suffering floodings, which must be awful in these freezing unions with it being so cold,

i'll let you go in a second, but update us on logan international airport. i understand some flights have been grounded, but what? >> it's funny, the man who runs logan keeps saying my airport's open, don't say it's closed. we're not saying it's closed. we are saying the airport is open. the phrase here is logan is open. but here's the thing, no one's flying from logan. no one's flying at the major airports in the northeast. they won't take off here until at least mid-day. the airport may be open, but has no flights coming in and out. do you think that's closed? >> i think it's where the glass is half empty or half frozen, you take your pick. >> exactly. well, i think the managers have to please the governor and their shareholders, look the airport is open, we're functioning, but no flights since 8:00 last night, nothing's going to move until mid-day today.

a bit of good news to leave you with is people have to rebook their flights, the airlines aren't going to charge you to do that. that's a little new year's present for you right there. >> we are on watch in new yorkty for big changes happening here at this hour. bring us up to date. >> absolutely, good morning del. all major roads and highways in new york that were closed overnight in anticipation of the storm are set to reopen right now for all vehicles. you can see by looking at these roads here, conditions not very good. it's certainly slow going, because there is still quite a bit of snow on the roads. you can see how slow some folks have to go and we also have development with j.f.k. international airport, closed since 6:00 a.m. is set to reopen at 8:30 this morning. again, that's set to reopen. that doesn't mean it will definitely reopen. that means no flights in or out of j.f.k. right now, however it

also means any other flights that are going into j.f.k. from anywhere else in the country cannot even take off until at least 8:30 this morning. then we've got the roads again that are a mess, even though the plows are culling by constantly, you can see this big pile here of snow. this is the reason why new york city officials closed all public schools, 1.1 million children are able to really have a snow day and play in this very light powdery stuff all day. it's going to keep coming down for a few more hours. >>er da, thank you very much. joining us live from new york city, a very frozen new york city, but at least the kids have a school day. now to our other top news today, iraq's prime minister is calling for reinforcements in two major cities, he says they are needed to help beat back a threat coming from sunni militants. fighting has been raging all week in the same cities where

hundreds of u.s. troops were killed in the war. since the pullout in 2011, they have become hubs for terrorism. with he report. >> in an bar province, the heartland of junie minority, signs of a government losing grip. this is where security forces are battling with fighters linked to al-qaeda. thousands of sunni fighters have taken government buildings, seized weapons and freed prisoners, a violent response to the government's crushing of a protest movement earlier this week. to regain control, military jets have taken to the the skies. the defense ministry released these pictures of what it says are air strikes targeting fighter positions. not just in this city, but in both cities, the upricing is said to be capitalizing on the anger of sunnies and one of the main factions fighting in syria.

>> i think the object is probably be able to carve out you an amount of territory in western iraq and eastern syria that might be contiguous and provide them with some sort of physical territorial sort of base. >> iraq's deep-rooted sectarianism has resurfaced. the sunni population accusing the government of neglecting their somebody. ment prime minister wants to resolve the current standoff, but won't negotiate with those associated with al-qaeda. >> we welcome our brothers from anbar willing to step forward to speak with us, cult and discuss. we need the real son was anbar and not those who claim to represent anbar. >> he said the fighters are further destabilizing iraq before upcoming elections in april. he'll have to calm the situation in an, before then to show he still has control of the

country. >> the cities are major cities in anbar province, which played a key role in shaping iraq's history. the region became a hotbed for a sunni insurgency that fought against the u.s. in 2004, fallujah became a symbol of the uprising there. in 2006 and 2007, a network of sunni tribes joining forces with the u.s. to fight al-qaeda in ai rack. >> some senate republicans are putting the pressure on afghan penalty karzai. they want him to sign the new security agreement with the u.s. they are warning karzai not to release dozens of prisoners expected of participating in attacks on u.s. troops. the senators saying that afghanistan is risking its relationship with the u.s. if those prisoners don't stand trial. >> over 60 coalition forces have been killed as a result of actions by these 88, and 57

afghans have been killed by the actions of these 88. to allow them to be released would be affront to the afghan people and so the soldiers and those who bravely risked their heavies to capture them i don't senator graham, john mccain and john boros are meeting in kabul with president karzai, mccain talking about the bilateral security agreement. >> i am convince that had as a result of our long meeting with president karzai, we have narrowed those differences and i believe that we can look forward to the signing of the b.s.a. and in a implementation of it sooner rather than later. >> you may recall the tribal leaders approved that deal back in november, but karzai refusing to sign it until after elections are held in april. >> for the second time in less that that a week, a bomb rocked beirut, killing at least five

people. clashes erupting in tripoli. lebanon has seen a string of deadly attacks linked to that war in neighboring syria. >> he has been the butt of jokes for his bad behavior, but toronto's mayor rob ford trying to stage a comeback, his latest move to get reelected. >> a code cracking super computer, the n.s.a. may be working on one that can break any kind of encryption. >> this icy wonderland you have to see to believe, but to brave temperatures of 25 degrees below zero if you want to see it in person. >> this is long island, where the snow continues to fall. as you can see, it's starting to pile up, and yes, it is very, very cold all up and down the eastern seaboard.

>> good morning, and welcome back to aljazeera marrying. i'm del walters. just ahead, he admitted to drinking and drugging and stripped of his powers, so why is toronto's mayor so hell bent on holding his job? we're going to take a closer

look at that story, but first let's find out how cold it's going to be across the nation today. >> how low will it go today? unfortunately, we're going to be subterranean. below zero, chicago minus eight right now. as we head up and down the northeast, temperatures have dropped, some in the teens, some in the single digits. the real problem is we have the wind, that's the same thing blowing the snow. a lot of the snow is ending, but it's going to blow. it's making those wind chills feel very brutal thong, philadelphia minus 11, boston minus 22. that's what it feels like with expokessed skin, of course a lot of people trying to stay indoors today. midwest, a brief air out of the south southwest is going to warm things up. this is the warmest temperatures we've had so far this week. you say 20's, 30's, that's the warmest? yeah and it's going to be because we already have the next

testimony coming in, chicago, we get warmer air more into tomorrow, saturday 27. the next system i said that could cause blizzard conditions, a lot of cold air with that. monday's high, negative. when places could have the coldest temperatures, the coldest highs on record. even saturday, you can see temperatures like minneapolis starting to dip. >> that is going to be cold, 40 as a warm temperature in fargo. >> toronto's mayor rob ford back on the ballot, running for a second term despite repeated calls for him to step down because of his own admitted bad behavior. >> i think on the campaign, i must get rolling. >> four more years, that was the promise toronto's mayor rob ford made as he signed up for reelection. he was the first candidate to show up at city hall when registration opened. that he made international

headlines that last year, first admitting he used drugs. >> yes, i have used crack cocaine. >> which he explained happened because he was in one of his drunken top pores. then there was this, pretty soon, everyone outside canada knew who ford was. the world waited to see what outrageous thing he might say next. >> this guy's got huge [bleep] >> i am sorry for how i have been acting. it is not indicative of my city of mayor in this great town of toronto. >> hey, man, i got what you asked. >> let's do it under the desk. >> despite all the bad pres, ford refused to step down, nor did he flinch when the toronto city council stripped him of all but the most symbolic of his powers. >> counselor with, it was not the reason i drank or did drugs was not stress, it was out of sheer stupidity. >> he told reporters thursday that he is the best mayor

toronto's ever had. he promised to run on a fiscal and not his personal record. >> everybody drinking, everybody's doing things, but they doesn't catch them, they doesn't have to, and they catch him and they make much publicity. >> with rob ford, he has a common touch with the people. >> it's going to get nasty, there's no doubt, it's already started, but we're going to stabbed on our fiscal record. rob ford is the only politician that i can remember, he's done what he said he was going to do. >> toronto's voters will have the final say on ford's plyical future in october. aljazeera. >> daniel is the city bureau hall chief, joining us live from toronto this morning. thank you for being with us. first of all, you wound up becoming part of the mayor ford story instead of just covering it. can you tell us about your own experience? >> yeah, i about 19 months ago, i was reporting a story on the mayor trying to buy a piece of

public park land adjacent to his house in a suburb of toronto, and he ended up coming around to his house and confronting me angrily, insisting i was spying on him and he also called the police on me, so there was an investigation. i was cleared, but much more recently, earlier this month, he repeated many of his false allegation about my conduct that evening in a widely publicized television interview and essentially insisted that i was a person with an interest in little children, that i was taking pictures of his kids. anyway, long story short, he has retracted all of his claims and formally apologized for them. >> i spent five years in washington covering washing top's then mayor marion berry with that crack cocaine scandal. this man, absolutely ridiculed with scandal. does he have a shot at reelection and using that

backdrop, barry won again. >> yeah, mayor ford does have a shot. his approval rating is about 40%, not that much different than president obama's, we know that's not god, but not a deadly approval rating. in the polls, he is not leading in any of the hypothetical races against his potential challengers, but he's not, you know, getting trounced. he is not down and out. it's a 10 month campaign. there's a long way to go and yeah, he could win. >> there was anger that they believe that the prosecutors were trying to force the mayor out of office. is there an agenda that those who do not live in toronto don't know about concerning rob ford and the efforts to get him out of office? >> i would say no, but i think there is a sentiment here that the elites, you know, including possibly the police and downtowners who want to tax and spend, you know, don't like this

guy who's trying to cut budgets and so want to get rid of him. that's certainly the narrative that the mayor and his city council brother are promoting. i don't know if there's truth to it, but a lot of people believe it. >> there was a woman we saw who basically said get off his back. is there a difference in the way the canadians see his bad behavior versus those of us a little south of the border? >> you know, i don't think it's a canadian versus american thing, i think it's a rob ford thick, what we've seen over and over of the last three years since he's been mayor. people view his transgressions and his lapses and gaffes differently than those of virtually anybody else. there's just something about him, people are willing to forgive him. they knew going in when they elected him mayor that he had problems, that he was highly jim perfect, and they just seem to be willing to, you know, give him second and 30 and fourth and

fifth chances, basically no matter what he he does. >> daniel, thanks for being with us this morning. >> in business news, we start with breaking news from chrysler, announcing sales were up 6% last month. it was chrysler's best december since 2007. however, that number fell a bit short of what analysts estimated. we will hear from ford and g.m. later today. >> it's expected that year end sales will drive overall u.s. sales up 4%. that would make 2013 the best year for the auto sales since before the recession. >> we've had a really great 2013 for the auto industry, we've had record sales, almost every single month, and in addition to this, we're looking at even future growth into 2014 with some really great product coming up from pretty much every manufacturer. >> releasing december u.s. sales figures, up 6%, recording its best early sales in its history. >> investors cautious after

ringing in the worst tart to the new year since 2008. the dow future is up 27, the dow starting the day at 16,441, the s&p standing at 1831 and the nasdaq at 4,143. in asia, markets ending the day lower, nikkei remaining closed for the new year holiday will resume trading monday. the european markets are higher. >> amazon.com is the stock to watch today. analysts just raising the price outlook from $485 from $405. amazon shares closing yesterday at 398. the stock was up more than 50% last year. >> a big day at bowing, machinist union members voting again on that contract that guarantees the new triple 7x will be built in the seattle area. the union rejecting a similar proposal because it eliminates the u.s. pension plan for a 401k. the company said without the contract, it will look to most of production elsewhere, one

strategist saying that's put a lot of pressure on the union to vote yes. >> not only would they lose jobs, but also millions of dollars in contributions to the international fund, bowing, yeah, it would be really difficult for them to rowlock a, but states are offering big incentives and tax breaks. >> chinese made card tables and chairs sold at wal-mart are recalled for safety reasons, the mainstay's five piece set can collapse unexpectedly. wal-mart have received reports of injuries, including a finger cut off. 7,000 table and chair sets are affected. >> the snow continues to pile up up and down the eastern seaboard. we're tracking the storm and dangerous conditions it's leaving behind in its wake joanne undocumented immigrant wins the right to practice law. why his case could set a major

resident for millions of people. >> why a new study suggesting the affordable care act could put a bigger strain on emergency rooms across the country. >> for the last two years, alabama has been the bully of college football. last night, oklahoma punched back. that story ahead.

>> welcome back to aljazeera america, i'm del walters. it arrived, the first winter storm of the newer has been punishing the northwest and barreling through no england bringing low temperatures and heavy know. the snow is still falling. >> snowplows did their best, but take a look at these roads. >> roads are terrible, slippery

you. >> it's a little scary. >> in massachusetts, schools closed early, the governor told state workers to stay home, but some people had to get to work. >> everyone sort of makes their own lane and eventually, the lines mean nothing. >> there's an accident just a mile from here, someone, a car ran right through the median in front of us. >> new york sent out 1700 snowplows, major expressways there are closed. in pennsylvania, snow started during the rush hour, causing a chain reaction pile up. >> dangerous, roads are slippery. >> some areas expect a foot or more but the problem isn't just snow, it's windy. >> we get very nervous about winds over 40 miles an hour. >> it's cold, temperatures across the northeast will dip into the teens today, with wind chills down to 30 below zero. >> it is very cold. >> i'm layered up. ive four pairs of pants on and four sweatshirts, so i'm cold. >> flooding concerns along the

coast, snow is expected to continue falling through mid morning. >> that is tracy pots reporting from washington, d.c. the cold could make a mess of the roads as the temperatures continue to drop. the snow, salt and homeowners and road crews use stop being effective when it drops to 10 and twenties degrees and it is that cold out there. secretary of state john kerry will talk to the palestinian president today. prime minister naten yahoo told reporters he is unsure those negotiations will work. >>

>> one of the israeli officials just talking to kind of semi state media just said that the two sides are actually farther apart than they were six months ago, so clearly kerry has a lot to do on this trip, but he's really trying to lower expectations. what he said is that we're working on the framework for the future negotiations of talks, so basically all we're doing is not even agreeing on anything, but talking about about what we're going to talk about. that despite they've been meeting for six months with 20 meetings. what he's going to do now is say ok now is the time for you to really think about whether you are able to make any concessions and whether you are willing to make any hard choices, but both sides are not willing publicly or privately to really accede to what kerry is asking them. we've heard a lot of skepticism and potituring bottom both sides trying to blame the other one for future failure of these talks. we heard that especially yesterday as you said from israeli prime minister

netanyahu. >> i now thatter committed to peace. i know that i'm committed to peace, but unfortunately, given the actions and words of palestinian leaders, there's growing doubted in israel that the palestinians are committed to peace. >> from the palestinian side, they argue that the israelis haven't been willing to make any concession, continuing to build settlements on palestinian land. it seems the two sides are very, very far apart the. >> asks kerry was able to get one concession. how long is that going to last? >> about five days, del, i think. as few as five days. israeli officials said we are going to announce 1400 new

settlements timed with palestinian released. they quickly said we are not going to do it, to stick our finger in kerry's eye while he is here. they say they are going to do it next week. palestinians say how can you really want a two state solution when you're building settlements on land that is the heart of the future palestinian state? israeli says it has the right to build wherever it wants to in the west bank, land it captured in 1967, so until israeli says no, we are not going to do this, the palestinians will continue to be furious about that and threaten to walk away from the talks after any settlements get built. >> nick, thank you very much. >> leaders of syria's main opposition group, the syrian opposition are meeting to elect a new president. peace talks are getting underway. it will be the first time the syrian assad regime and

opposition groups will sit down to a meeting. >> u.s. is evacuating staff from the american embassy in south sudan, the security situation getting worse. the state department warning all americans to leave after the government said rebel fighters are moving toward the capital city of juba. ceasefire talks are underway in ethiopia but the two sides have yet to meet face-to-face. it is believed thousands have died in three weeks of fighting between those groups. >> kenya's government now looking for new ways to identify suspected criminals, there's been stepped up pressure to step up security after of the west gate mall attack in september, leaving more than 70 people dead. we are in southern kenya. he has been building this house for his family for a year now. a month ago, he lost almost all his construction material after robbers empties the site three that it took two days to retrace

and recover the tollen items. >> i didn't think i would get them back, but thankfully, my community members came to my rescue. the tollen itemles were found. >> tucked in the shadow of the mountain along the border, this village has been practicing traditional community policing. the idea is to have meetings chaired by village elders to know one's neighbors and report suspicious incidents to these meetings first as oppose to do so directly going to the police. it's a concept the national government is now trying to implement across the country. crime has been an endemic problem in kenya for years. the government can't tackle the issue alone and proposed that an order to expose alongside criminals, people need to know who lives in households around their own. >> so the village has been divided into blocks of 10 homes, meetings are held in the

presence of the police officer in urban areas, this would be done through neighborhood associations. here this woman talks about how they successfully manage said to stop a neighbor from illegally brewing beer at home, but critics worry it could be impinging on people's privacy or lead to vigilanteism. >> all these issues are devoid or far from where the main problem is, which is the police themselves. the other is reluctance to move. >> the goal is not just to suppress crime. >> at that odors level, there is participation, ownership, the solutions are coming from them. >> the government argues sump forums could help promote overall community development, but it's not clear how willing people across the country are to

embrace the initiative. the discussion for one has been politicized. it appears these meetings have a long way to go. >> kenya first experimenting with communities policing under its former president back in 2003. >> the national security agency reportedly racing to build a quantum computer that could crack every five encryption, that according to documents leaked by edward snowden. the computer is years away, but could be used to break fire walls on banking, governments and computers around the world, even secure websites used to protect state secrets could be vulnerable, part of a research underway in college park, maryland. >> a land mark legal decision, california's supreme court granting a man living in this country illegally for two decades a license to practice law. advocates hope it will open the door for others living in the country without their papers.

aljazeera reports. >> california supreme court voted george yo garcia, an undocumented immigrant can begin practicing law. he moved to the united states 20 years ago, applied for citizenship back in 1994, but because of a backlog of applications from mexico, he's never received a visa number. >> i love this country. this country has given me a lot, even though it has given me a lot of heartache, as well. >> he attended community college, became a paralegal, finished law school and passed the california bar on his first try, using those law skills, decided to challenge a 1996 federal law banning illegal immigrants from obtaining professional licenses from government agencies or with the use of public funds. thursday's ruling means garcia can begin practicing law, despite his immigration status. >> i couldn't be any happier. it's a great day. >> garcia says he hopes the new law will serve as a becon of hope and inspire others.

>> as you know, what california does, a lot of people follow, and i know florida is facing the same issue, new york is facing the same issue and i think they were both waiting on us to act. >> sometime next month, garcia will be sworn in as a california attorney. he plans to be a personal injury lawyer in his hometown of chico. aljazeera america. >> the obama administration has fought to provide a legal path for citizenship for millions of undocumented incidents but was against the legal precedent this case set. >> immigration promises to be a key issue in 2014. a former aid to president bill clinton joins us this morning. good morning. >> good morning, thanks for having me. >> mr. garcia living in the country illegally for years before being granted a license to practice law in the state of california, how are they going to react in washington, congress specifically? >> well, i think we're already starting to see some shifts in the posture have the republicans

in the house where really is where the action is in washington at the moment. the senate has already passed a bipartisan immigration reform measure and now all eyes are on the house and whether or not republican leadership in the house will act. i think some of the public statements made by speaker boehner suggest that his position is shifting slightly. in particular, he's saying that maybe they would be open to particular provisions of immigration reform and this frankly opens up a much larger issue, if i can just describe it to you for a moment. there are issues that are very helpful to business and immigration reform, things like allowing tech companies to have more skilled veal is a workers, or agricultural companies, able to use immigrant labor, but then there are issues far more important to the latino community in particular at large or the asian community at large, providing a pathway to citizenship. the democrats and the senate basically linked those two

issues. you only get the pro business stuff if you get the path to citizenship stuff. i think what speaker boehner is testing is whether or not he can move the needle enough to get some of the pro business items out of the house and then negotiate with the senate. i think that's where this is going and it will really be a test of the sort of immigration reform movement, whether they can keep those things together. >> which is why the chamber of commerce come out in support of it. i want to show you the numbers that are taken in a stud by the pew research center. 39% of all americans believe american policy need changes. 35% say it needs to be completely rebuilt. 21% believe that major changes and minor changes are enough. 4% say they just don't know. this national desire seems to be there. in fact, come election day, it could come back to haunt the republicans because of the sheer numbers itself. is that not true? >> absolutely. in fact, i would dig a little deeper into those numbers and let's ask in key swing states

like florida, how does this issue play and what does that imply for republicans chance. >> and texas. >> and texas, thank you. i wouldn't call texas a swing state, but a very important state. there are national implications for the republican party. i don't think speaker boehner is doing these changes out of the goodness of his heart, frankly, i think he sees the political tea leaves, growing population of la teen knows increasingly voting democratic. i think republicans have recognized they have to change if they want to have a hope of capturing florida and swing states in the west in particular, colorado, nevada, new mexico. there is an electoral imperative in the republican party to do something and i think this is also another battle between the far right tea partyers who don't want any kind of reform, and the more moderate i have called them the corporate republicans who want a more mainstream approach. this will be a battle royally within the republican party and in the house in particular. >> if the republicans do not

embrace immigration reform this year, give me an idea of what the long term damage to the party just might be. >> well, let's take demographic trends alone. if you take the growth rate in the latino population in a critical swing state like florida, under today's trends, the democrats really would not have to change their game plan at all in order to not just preserve, but expand their margin that thief got in both 2008 and 2012. if you apply that reasoning to other swing states and regions, like colorado, nevada, no mexico, even states like arizona and states that are kind of changing deem grapy today, virginia, north carolina, you really see a pathway where the latino vote alone could determine elections. by the way, this contributes to some republicans not wanting to allow folks to become sit accepts, because they fear the

electoral implications. this sort of caught between a rock and a hard place. do nothing, you lose elections. >> the satellite window is about to die. that's one of the reasons -- i'm sorry to interrupt you. i hope you have a happy new year. >> you got your chips, your dips, college bowl season now at its peak. a big surprise last night. >> quite an eye opener. throughout the college football season, it seemed alabama was on course for another b.c.s. title game berth. that auburn took care of that. beaten in that iron bowl thriller, the tide settled for a shot in the sugar bowl. last season, he said calling the s.e.c. the best conference was propaganda. sooners up 31-24 as we pick it up second and goal fo.

sooners up by 14. completed 32 throws, under seven minutes to play, alabama trying to come back, the swing pass. he is a freshman, running away from everybody. 61 yards for the score, the tide down 38-31. under a minute left. first and 10 from the alabama 18, lasted chance for the tide, hit, ball is loose, picks it up and leans over the goal line for the touchdown, oklahoma upsets alabama. he gets a bath. yeah, oklahoma wins the sugar bowl 45-31. >> the nfl playoffs begin tomorrow, three stadiums still short of sellouts for the games. the push is on to sell the games out and avoid t.v. blackouts in those markets. taking a look now at the action, the chiefs and coats kick things

off to really on wildcard saturday, the early game. the night cap should be a good one in philly. eagles host the saints, new orleans unbeaten at the superdome but 3-5 on the road this season. we have thoughts on the saints winning a were from home in cold weather. all right, we had some issues there. now we showed you wildcard saturday. we're going to look now at wildcard sunday. two more terrific matchups. in the early game, the chargers visit the bengals, another interesting home and away aspect to this one. san diego sneaked in the playoffs on the final sunday, the regular season last week, the bengals winners of the a.f.c. north are 8-0 at home, a completely different team at home than the road.

lambeau field is the site for the game of the weekend, aaron rodgers back with the pack as they host the 49ers. they have until 4:00 today to sell this gameout or face a blackout and the niners have won six in a row. >> turning at the nba, the golden state warriors have quietly become the hottest team in the league, invading miami last night, riding a six-game winning streak. seth curry put on a show. currie from long-range, pulls up right there and hits another three. he had eight threes in the game, unstoppable. somebody get a hand in his face. this next play, james driving full speed ships, loses the ball and we're all to believe that this caused that. are you kidding me? he left a skid mark now? that did not make sense. currie, another three to put the heat away, finished with a game high 36, golden tate, 15-29 from beyond the arc, the golden

warriors win. that's a wrap up for sports. i'm not sure about that, del, i'm just going with what they showed us. >> a wind are wonderland without annual competition is booming and getting bigger each and every year. >> speaking of a winter wonderland, where snow is lingering in the northeast, and new possible blaze coming up for the midwest.

>> this sunday... >> scholars and writers, policy makers an

>> welcome back. we'll tell you about a winter wonderland. you have to brave sub zero temperatures if you want to see it in person, but first let's find out where it's range and snowing across the country today if there is any rain. >> people in the northeast and midwest are saying sub zero, we've got that down here. we've had the new winter storm

system, two pieces of energy that merged together by the time they hit the northeast, a lot of snow. you can see how quickly that is moving across. clearing out in long island, massachusetts, maine still seeing that along the coast, but it is clearing out. by noon, a lot of this will be gone. blowing snow with the wind, so watch for that. i mentioned the midwest. we didn't make it to blizzard conditions in the northeast, because not high enough winds and low enough visibilities, but this snow through north dakota, even though the that will be light snow, the winds will be high enough and temperatures dropping, but this could cause problems, already starting into this afternoon with possible whiteout conditions. >> there is a new study finding people who recently enrolled in medicaid went to the emergency room a lot more than other are americans. the report comes as millions of americans get health insurance under the affordable care act,

following a limited expansion of medicaid in oregon found that over the first 18 months, 42% of new medicate enrollees visited the emergency rom, compared to just are 5% from people not selected for medicaid in an oregon lottery. overall, 40% more visits than most of you. >> each year, millions of people brave sub zero temperature to see a winter wonderland in china. it is a dazzling display of ice. the number of visitors seems to be increasing each and every year. >> the finishing touches to this year's winter collection. for local sculptors, the increasing fame of this ice festival in the northern chinese city means competition from overseas is getting tougher. >> the standard has been improving, because people have been using more some of it

indicated tools. >> growing steadily since it began, the last few years have seen the festival boom with 25% growth in the last year alone. >> as the economy keeps growing, people have more money to travel, and they want to go to interesting places. >> after dark, it truly comes to life and increase in visitor numbers becomes apparent. that's in spy of nighttime temperatures of minus 25 degrees and below. >> having planned and saved, civil servant and his wife are bringing their 5-year-old daughter here for the first tile. it's their only holiday this year from their native province in northern china, but they're already planning next year. >> we want to go to. >> after that, we want to go abroad. >> with social reforms like

partial relaxation of the one child policy, from the middle income perspective, china in 2014 is looking pretty rosy right now. >> it's been going on for 30 years now, the ice and snow festival features castles, a coliseum and the empire state building, made with blocks that were frozen in the river. that's going to do it for this edition of aljazeera america. more headlines straight ahead in two and a half minutes and this is a shot of the real empire state building where in new york right now, it is freezing as that snowstorm has dutched up to two feet of snow in some parts of new england and temperatures falling all across the northeast. 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? 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