welcome to al jazeera america. i'm del walters. these are the stories we are following for you. the northeastern part of the u.s. trying to get back on track of the major winter storm brings things to a crawl. and secretary of state john kerry doing the diplomatic shuffle turning his attention to palestinian president. and birth control and the affordable care act the obama administration now appealing to the supreme court. ♪ delays, cancellations and bitterly cold temperatures all part of the first major snow

storm in the northeast this year. that storm already being blamed for 11 deaths as it moved across the country this yeek. you are looking at the plains over the now. the orange planes are the ones that aren't flying. nearly 2,000 flights have already been canceled. another thousand have been delayed. richelle carey is in new york where 1 million kids spent the day at home, but first to john terrett in boston. john, boston got hit on both fronts today, the snow and the cold. >> reporter: you know, dell, it really did, and the school kids in massachusetts are also off as well. this was an absolutely huge storm. i was listening to the governor of connecticut last night. he was talking about it not being that much of a big storm, but i have just seen a picture from nasa, and this stretches

from mississippi over to the eastern seaboard. top to bottom. so i think it was completely natural of everybody to be very, very concerned about this being a hugely dangerous event. and the epicenter of the snow dump was to be massachusetts. and in the air, thanks goodness, we did get a lot of snow, but there hasn't been too much in the way of damage reported for injuries or deaths, though i recognize that 11 people have died as a result of the storm from the midwest. this is the square in the middle of downtown boston. that's pretty much where the boston marathon ends over there. and what is the first thing that strikes you in this picture? the answer, a lack of people. this is a major northeastern u.s. city and there's hardly anybody here, and the reason for that is the governor asked his people not to come to the city

today stay home, and give authorities a chance to clean up. at the moment the sun has come out, and these people i think maybe are the tourists who have been holed up in the hotels for the night, getting out in their last few hours before they go back from their winter holidays. not many people are working, and evening the snow mraus have disappeared. dell? >> now to new york where richelle carey is there with more. richelle, the airport was closed this morning. have they reopened? >> they do. but before i get to that, i think some people sitting at home who are not from boston says it snows in that part of the country all the time. why do we pay so much attention? a few reasons, obviously it's a major financial hub, and major

travel hub as well. if this part of the country becomes paralyzed that trickles down to the rest of the country. jfk after being closed for two hours this morning, back up and running. flights are about an hour behind. newark, for flights coming in to newark, those flights are about three hours behind right now, dell. i have an update as well -- you mentioned that there are about a million kids in new york city who were home. they had a snow day. i think i have seen a few of them playing in central park behind me. but the new mayor said he made that chose more because of the cold temperatures. there was a 79 year old woman who wandered away from her house, she has alzheimer's, and

froze in these temperatures. most of the major highways and roads, they are reopened. in new york on interstate 87 there are also accidents despite of the fact that people were told to stay off of the roads, there are some people who still have to get from point a to point b, but there were not nearly the power outages that hundreds of thousands of people experienced over the past few weeks, so that was actually to a minimum here. so things are slowly getting back to normal. kids are out here having fun. there's adults out here having fun as well. but it is bitterly cold and i would advice not coming out unless you have lots and lots of layers. >> richelle thing you very much. now we turn to dave warren with the latest on the forecast, and i understand it is going to get even colder.

>> yes, it is with that layer of snow on the ground. this was overnight last night. it has cleared out now. we can see this snow on the ground. this white color is the snow scene from the visible satellite picture. this is the snow on the ground, and it is stopped there right about washington, d.c., now we get the cold air coming in behind the storm. with the snow on the ground the temperature will drop tonight. look for temperatures to go well below zero, and that's close to where they are now. teens in philadelphia and new york. the wind continues to gust, combine that with the cold temperatures seeing temperature 20 below, albany is 9 below. you want to bundle up.

another storm coming in will impact the weekend. i'll look at that with the national forecast coming up. dell. secretary of state john kerry has arrived in palestinian to meet with the prime minister. but hundreds of protesters not happy about his visit already. nick, protests on the west bank, a chilly reception by the palestinians and the israelians, things not going well for secretary kerry. >> no, absolutely right, dell. this is very, very difficult as it has been for decades, and it is very difficult right now. what kerry is doing is shuttling diplomacy at a time when neither of the publics actually want their governments to make the concessions that kerry is asking of them. he is saying it's time to make

hard choices. it's time to make concessions. he is trying to get both sides to agree on a piece of paper of where they are going to start to negotiate from. this is his tenth trip here. he is just trying to get both sides to agree. this is where we start from, and then we can start talking about the options. but as he's asking for these concessions and these hard decisions to be immediate, what both sides are doing, they are beginning to blame the other one. you heard that from benjamin netenyahu call the palestinian prime minister a terrorist. and while kerry is trying to get both sides together, both sides are starting to pull apart. >> and even when it came to the issue of settlements, that did

not seem to bode well for secretary kerry either. >> no, the israelis has part of these peace talks have released palestinian prisoners. that is extremely unpopular, so as a carrot to people who testi testing -- who have been protesting, that makes them furious. they are saying look the settlements and roads and note works that go with it are dotting the landscape in the heart of the future palestinian state. so they delayed the announcement so they wouldn't embarrass secretary kerry while he was here. nonetheless israel intends to go through with the settlement announcement. >> nick thank you very much.

iraqi security forces heading back today. 62 fighters were killed. the clashes began on monday when the iraqi governmenter to down an anti government protest tent. members are meeting in turkey to discuss key issues there. they will decide if they will also participate in that peace conference later this month. the event is aimed attending conflict that so far as killed more than 100,000 people. a ship and crew leaving two weeks from now to destroy syria's chemical weapons is at sea. it is a very delicate operation. >> it may have been a cargo rejected by every country asked, but for the u.s., the disposal

of syria east chemical weapons arsenal will be under a serious test. >> this is not new technology, or a high-risk thing that hasn't been done before. we have people that understand these machines very well. and will be able to operate them very safely. >> the u.s. says it might take up to 90 days to complete what would normally take a month onland. >> the people feeding those precursor chemicals into the neutralization equipment, this is the only physical operations that are going to take place and

if the ship [ inaudible ] too much, then of course that could be hazardous. >> reporter: another challenge will be continuing the full effect of the hydraulics system at full speed. and all of 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 scrubbers. >> reporter: it has been widely reported that a chinese military vessel will protect the ship in what would be beijing's first mission in the mediterranean. but a pentagon spokesperson told al jazeera she did not if that was true. syria was supposed to remove most of its chemical weapons

stockpiles by the end of 2013, but the un says the civil war, logistical problems and bad weather complicated things >> in egypt our three al jazeera colleagues expected to face more questioning this weekend. they have now been held for six days. they are being held at a prison near cairo, and peter greste beremains at the police station. brad prit helped rebuild after hurricane trina, but some people say their homes are now rotting. ray suarez hosts inside story weekdays at 5pm et / 2pm pt only on al jazeera america

>> from our headquarters in new york, here are the headlines this hour. >> al jazeera america is the only news channel that brings you live news at the top of every hour. >> a deal in the senate may be at hand and just in the nick of time. >> thousands of new yorkers are marching in solidarity. >> we're following multiple developments on syria at this hour. >> every hour from reporters stationed around the world and across the country. >> only on al jazeera america. a federal judge stepping into that legal dispute between a california hospital and the family of a brain-dead girl. a judge is meeting this hour with the familiar -- lawyer of

the family. the hospital refuses to attach breathing and feeding tubes so she can be moved. she was declared brain dead last month after going into cardiac arrest after tonsil surgery. the obama administration is pushing back against the supreme court. on tuesday a small group of nuns were given an exception to the affordable care act saying they don't have to provide contraception coverage. >> this isn't the first time this has stirred up controversy, dell. now there is an exemption for churches or other religious organizations. however, that does not include charities that are connected to churches.

charities were very upset by this, so they pushed back, and the obama administration crafted what i thought it was a compromise. it said third-party insurers could take on the responsibility of paying for the plans so the charities wouldn't have to, they would just have to sign a statement that say they objected to providing the coverage themselves. well that still didn't sit well some charities. a small group in denver filed a lawsuit. >> and the white house was quick to push back on this. so what did they have to say? >> they are asking for the exception to be lifted and they are saying it is basically a moot point. the third-party ininsurer that the little sisters of the poor uses is a christian insurance

company, and therefore it classifies as a church, so they wouldn't have to provide that contraceptive coverage anyway. the nuns are still objecting to even have to sign a document and kick it to any third-party in theory. and the justice department says this is not even relevant. but the lawyers said this is an example of the federal government bullying, dell. >> libby thank you very much. ♪ there was a mixed day for stocks after yesterday's big selloff, the dow is up about 19 points, but the nasdaq is lower. trading volume is light effected by the snow storm. the future of boeings and thousands of jobs being deciding today, members of the machinist union voting on a new contract

that says the new plane will be build in washington state. one of america's favorite breakfast cereals is eliminating all genetically modified ingredients. it says it will stop using altered corn search in cereals. 2013 ending with a whimper for the big three auto makers, ford reporting december sales up just 2%, chrysler's sales came in higher by 6%, but that was less than anticipated. and gm dropping by 4%. however, for the year all three said they had solid gains. brad pitt has been a picture in new orleans since hurricane katrina. building energy efficient homes for families that were displayed by the storm, but there seems to be a problem.

>> reporter: willie lives in one of the 100 homes that brad pitt's make it right foundation built for victims of hurricane katrina, but only after four years he says his house is rotting. the make it right foundation says some of the energy efficient homes were built with a new high text wood infused with glass. >> everything is environmental friendly, the only down side to that was that everything was knew and hasn't been through trial and error. >> reporter: according to the website this new wood is made out chemicals so it's better for the environment. but residents say the problem is it can't withstand water. some environmental specialists say the wood may not be a perfect product but the effort is admirable. >> that's what happens in the field, everyone is trying new products and you are always looking for things that don't

bio degrade like glass. i think one thing we learned after katrina was that just using standard wood in houses that is not treated or protected sort of -- you know, makes it a risky business. if nobody is out there pushing the limits trying to use more sustainable products, then we're not going to change at all. >> reporter: reports say the foundation is considering legal action. and timber sill says it is checking into the concerns. >> everything hasn't been peachy and perfect, but at the same time we just deal with it. >> reporter: and he says it is a lot better in the ninth ward now than it was. the make it right foundation has help build homes in newark, new jersey, in this kansas, missouri, and on the indian reservation in montana. coming up it is a winter

wonderland built entirely out of ice. and you need to bundle up if you want to travel in new york city right now.

welcome back to al jazeera america. i'm del walters. here are your headlines at this hour. hundreds of palestinians are protesting against secretary of state john kerry's arrival in the west bank. kerry is meeting with the palestinian leadership to help create the framework for a peace deal. but the palestinians say the talks are bias toward's israelis demands. the obama urging the supreme court not to except catholic charities from the affordable care act. syria's largest opposition group meeting in turkey. the syrian national council set

to elect a new president. and will decide if it will attend the peace conference in switzerland scheduled later this monthed. each year millions brave sub zero temperatures to graze at a ice sculpture display in china. >> reporter: putting the pin fishing touches to this year's winter collection. for local sculptors, the increasing fame of this festival means competition from overseas is getting tougher. >> translator: the standard has been improving a lot, because people have been using more sophisticated tools. >> reporter: growing steadily 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 truly comes to life. and the increase in visitors becomes apparently that's in spite of nighttime temperatures of minus 25 degrees and below. this civil servant and his wife are bringing their five-year-old daughter here for the first time. it's their only holiday this year from their native province in northern china, but they are already planning next year. >> translator: we want to go to tibet. >> translator: after that we want to go abroad. >> reporter: with high expectations of growing wealth and other social reforms like partial relaxation of the one-child pollty, from the middle income perspective, china in 2014 is looking pretty rosy right now. >> and those structures all made

of ice blocks from the frozen river. ♪ i'm meteorologist dave warren. well the snow has cleared out and now we have the sunshine, but don't let that bright sunshine fool you, you can see the picture outside looks pretty clear. the sunshine is bright across the george washington bridge, but the temperatures are much colder, not a lot of traffic out there, that's a good thing, but if you head outside for any reason, bundle up, dealing with about 7 inches of snow here. 23.8 inches in massachusetts, washington, d.c., 2.5 inches of snow. now we're talking about more snow and another storm coming in. not a lot of snow expected but the wind picking up, and the bitter cold area, so you get reduced visibility here in north

dakota. another blizzard warning in effect. the temperatures in any northeast are feeling like they are down to about 10 to 20 below, even colder tomorrow morning, the fresh coating of snow on the ground really lets the temperature drop. tomorrow morning even colder. here is this snow with the next storm which will impact the east over the weekend depending on where you live you will see a mix of rain or sleet or snow. right now it's just a little snow across plains. it warms up a bit in rapid city, 44, and 57 in denver. it will feel like 20 to 30 below by tomorrow morning, and then the temperatures will feel like 50 below in fargo, 51 below in bismarck. here is the cold air moving through chicago and minneapolis. there it is, coming behind this

storm. the storm will develop over the great lakes and bring warm air up on sunday. yes, another storm coming in quickly behind this one that just cleared out. now this will be warmer air, not snow, but you will get rain falling into cold area, so we could see a brief mix before it changes into rain. all snow there from the midwest to the great lakes. dell? >> dave warren thank you very much. a 9-year-old chinese boy acing the rubix cube. take a look. doan. just in case you are counting. that's about 12 seconds. chinese media saying he can do this ever time, 12 seconds. he is a celebrity at school and is now teaching his classmates how they can solve the rubix cube as well. thank you for watching al

jazeera america. i'm del walters, "truth is," is next. and you can check us out 24 hours aday by going to aljazeera.com. >> yeah, i'm all right. >> you see what? >> no. ♪ ♪ ♪