welcome to al jazeera america. these are stories we are following for you. winter blows an arctic blast and freezing temperatures across the map. >> i am unemployed and affected by this decision. >> president obama letting this unemployed workers stating the case. >> russia beefing up security ahead of the winter games. >> millions of americans are dealing with the bitter cold temperatures today, at least 11

people have already died and night fall is approaching. the severe weather is gripping the nation and reaching into the south. in the midwest the storm turned deadly. we are in maywood chicago, a suburb of chicago and 11 deaths nationwide and many of them where you are. >> it is very cold. it is minus 2 degrees here. you mentioned the 11 deaths and 4 deaths in illinois and 3 in indiana and we have heard they are investigating 3 deaths in wisconsin. oddly enough there is not a lot of cases of hypothermia and frostbite because people are staying in as the authorities are telling people to do. a lot of homeless people are going inside as well. the highways, a lot of black ice

and the snow the blowing across the highways and the driving is treacherous and people are returning to work today. we saw the people going to emergency rooms yesterday that are victims of traffic accidents. it is supposed to be warmer here tomorrow. we are hoping so. we are hoping to see that. >> diane, when you say a little bit warmer, what exactly are you talking about there in the windy city and where it is windy. >> we are looking at the weather getting up to maybe up to the low teens tomorrow and actually they are talking about it being in the mid 30s here over the weekend. so a lot of this cold air is moving out and we are going to see for what this week is considered balmy temperatures by the weekend and melting some of the snow. diane, thank you so much.

get back inside and contain the enthusiasm for the warmer temperature. >> we are live in new york city's penn station and travel is a concern? >> yes, it is a concern here. what is interesting about the weather system, it is not really bringing in snow, not bringing in the ice to the northeast, just bitterly cold temperatures. it is hoovering around zero degrees in new york city and that is a record set in 1896 and it was 4 degrees back then and 6 degrees then and 4 degrees today. yesterday in new york, in the 50s. so temperatures plunged nearly 60 degrees in just 24 hours and that is causing a massive amount of problems because that major plunge in temperatures. amtrak is saying that earlier today that the temperatures the causing problems with the equipment and seeing a number of numbers in the northeast

corridor. the lines are down and having problems with the electricity and the components and dozens of delays and cancellations and northern illinois three amtrak trains stuck in the snow overnight and affected 500 passengers that slept overnight on board the trains. >> after we left, we got stuck in five feet of a snow drift and we had stopped so many times before then, we thought just another stop. now it was nine hours. >> now, amtrak brought in buses to rescue the passengers and brought them into chicago after spending the night on board the trains stuck in the snow. major delays at the airports, 3,000 flights cancelled across the united states and many of them with jetblue that shutdown

the operations in new york and operations and reseting and getting the crews and pilots in place and restarting the operations today. the plan is jetblue is hoping to open and running by 3:00 p.m. this afternoon. >> thank you, jonathan. stay warm. >> there is a good chance of regardless of where you are you are dealing with the freezing temperatures, the car won't start and the pipes are freezing. >> today is the coldest. the cold arctic air is going to clear. the temperatures showing the coldest temperature. 2 below in chicago. it is up in the northeast and 17 in washington. single digits from new york. the cold air is beginning to clear out and moving out and warming up each day, just a few degrees. the wind is continue to gust

today. the wind gusting and bitter cold windchills, well below zero. 0 in cleveland. 8 in albany. when factoring in the winds what it is feeling like on the skin below zero. 30 below zero in cleveland. 36 below in toronto. the temperatures will be getting warmer and climbing back up above freezing in the coming days. >> dave, thank you very much. >> to washington now, president obama calling the senate's vote to extend the jobless benefits a very important first step. the president bringing a group of unemployed workers to the white house to make his case. the woman speaking before the president stole the show. she wears a hat and coat inside of the home and the thermostat

is set at 58 and military mother of two vets. >> i worked a number of jobs and never asked for a handout. while i raised two wonderful boys. both of my boys are serving in the u.s. military. it was very hard for me to let one of the boys to serve in afghanistan, but i did. and he was proud to serve his country. i hope our leaders in washington can find a solution to help families like mine. >> mike is at the white house, mike, the optics from the house are difficult to contradict. >> that is certainly right. we saw the president and the white house personalizing the issue, on december 28th, because congress didn't act before leaving for the holiday vacation in extending the unemployment

benefits thousands lost their benefits. there is a hongover from the recession at 2.6% and that is relatively high when considering that figure and the president called and on the phone and talking to the key senators and trying to get them to vote to extend the benefits and making them retro active. the effort paid fruit. 6 republicans joined democrats, cleared a hurdle in the senate, about it was 60 votes they needed and got it. the future is still in doubt. it has to pass the senate and the house of representatives and insisting that the extension would cost the off set with cuts in other areas. the east room and putting the pressure on the republicans and allow the vote. >> for the americans that join me at the white house today and

millions like them laid off in the recession through no fault of their own, unemployment insurance has been a vital economic lifeline. for a lot of people it is the only source of income they have got to support their families while they look for a new job. these aren't folks who are just sitting back waiting for things to happen, they are out there actively looking for work. >> you heard the president, he's making the moral case for the right thing to do and making the economic case and continuing the benefits will help the economy and putting money in people's pockets and spending that money on essentials. there is the under current, it is an election year and we expect him to continue to highlight the growing income disparity in the country. the president taking the east room, the future of the

extension, brief as it may be, remember, it is only three months and very much in doubt a lot of up to the conservatives. >> there was an applause for the president for the pushback after the comments that people are enjoying the benefits and learning to live with them. >> enjoying is one of the phrases. you are hearing the conservat e conservatives say extending the benefits a disincentive to go out look for work. there are economists disagreeing with that. the president hitting back there, it is sort of a political softball for the president and he's talking to a lot of people in his life at a public servant and saying he's got more faith

in the american people. >> mike, thank you very much. >> the security is upped around the russian games. the resort city is now restricted. we are in moscow with more on how russian is working to keep the games safe. >> this is the final count down to the games. apparently almost all of the facilities and venues are up and running and today this huge security operation got fully underway. the entire zone around sochi will be sealed off and patrolled by the army troops and inside of the city tens of thousands of police and special officers and a huge array of electronic surveillance devices keeping track of just about everybody and everybody move they make and

any type of digital communications they are sending out. this is the beginning of the period when sochi will or will not safely make it through the games. >> now, one athlete that is not attending the games, lindsey vonn, the 29-year-old skier with drawing from skiing after the injuries to her knee. she under go more surgery in the hope of competing next year at the world championships. >> the first batch of the chemical weapons in syria is now out of the country. i spoke about the removal involvement. >> the syrian government is responsible for packing and transporting the chemicals to the port. the danish and the norwegians provided the ships. the u.s. provided a loading and

transporting and decontamination equipment and in the later stages providing a ship to neutralize the chemical weapons. today a number of containers load odd the the danish ship and going to international waters and verifying the amount of check --king chemical toxins and later stages all of the chemicals have to be neutralized. >> talks about ending the violence in sudan have stalled. the talks fizzled. the south government rejected the rebel calls to release 11 detainees. t at least a thousand people died from the violence. >> stand off in fallujah and thousands are fleeing the city. the forces are battling the

rebels with ties to al qaeda. 25 fighters were killed. the u.s. is helping with missiles but not the troops. >> military offensive is just days away but few now the streets are empty. >> we are accelerating the sales and providing missiles as early as the spring. >> on the edge of the city controlled in part by the islamic state, the iraqi army is edging closer with soldiers and equipment. >> the time measures that we take today is because of the situation and avoiding the violence in baghdad, god willing we are at the service of the people and vow to protect the

homeland. >> but a coalition of al qaeda linked fighters is saying that anyone that tries to help will be punished. >> the revolutionaries are going to punish the tribesmen that help the forces and decide to join the military council. they are determined to shoulder the responsibility of foiling the scheme run by the government. >> that led to exiting of a the residents fleeing the bitter fighting and tending to give the aid is hampered by a dangerous situation. >> the supplies are expected to be shipped this afternoon and we are negotiating over the safety issues. we have loaded the supplies. it is difficult to approach the city. >> iraq's prime minister urged

the residents to help drive out the al qaeda linked fighters and if that doesn't happen military action could be the next step. >> al jazeera is continuing to demand the release of the journalist held in egypt for ten days now. all accused of spreading lies and joining the terrorist john. al jazeera maintaining that the allegations are false. they are being held in a prison outside of cairo. one is an award winning reporter and reported across the continent of africa. one working for cnn and the new york city times and the red cross and he's being interrogated by the state prosecutors and questioned again tomorrow. the third is working with al jazeera as a producer for most of last year. >> next up, people whose lives

were changed forever.

on wall street, the bulls are back after a lackluster start to the new year. the dow is raising 88 points. the freezing temperatures are taxing the power grid and the power companies are asking to conserve on power. texas is setting a record for electric consumption. >> jp morgan chase is set to pay $2 billion for the role in the bernny madoff scheme and most going to the victims. the justice is saying that chase turned a blind eye to his

accounting. no tax deductions for the penalties. >> it is close to three years since the massive earthquake hitting japan and three years later the country is dealing with the lasting effects. we have more on the story. >> a life long rancher and farming is his life. >> there was a huge shaking. i rushed out into the parking lot of the store. and there heard reports of a 3 meter sue namny. i was worried about the cattle and i rushed back here. >> that is where he heard about the troubles at the nuclear power plant just miles from the home. he lived close enough to see it.

>> on the 15th of march there were explosions to the reactors and this is it, i'm done for. >> the multiple explosions blanketed his farm and wide areas of the land with radio active particles and after seeing the farms abandoned he couldn't bring himself to leave. most of the people fled in waves. leaving ghost towns in their way. we ventured into towns inside and around the exclusion zone, which remain empty today, silent, and frozen in time at the moment residents fled the quaking earth and the incoming sea. many expected to return once the dust settled and the waters reseeded. even long time residents are staying away and afraid of what

many call the invisible enemy that haunts the hundreds of square miles around the plant. the mayor is trying to convince the refugees to come home. >> no good comes from agonizing over the past. i focus on moving the city forward into the future. we have led people know that we are doing decontamination and are working to reduce the worries and anning xities. >> to reduce the radiation, all of the topsoil needs to be scraped away and replaced and the trees cut down and removed. >> the soil is dumped at hundreds of sites. to give a sense of the scale of the operation, the bags here

were taken from only 400 homes. but the city has plans to decon contaminate mate 20,000 in all. living in the city with her husband and two young children and the government ordered everyone inside after the explosions at the plant. when the husband ignored the fears and refused to leave, she filed for a divorce. it is a kind of marital discourse so common that the japanese have a name for it, nuclear divorce. >> i felt like if i stayed with him i wouldn't be able to keep the children from harm and that is how i got here. >> here is far from the plant and far from the worries of radiation. >> is it worth splitting the family? >> i don't know if it was the

right choice. i don't know. but the best thing about being here is seeing my children outside playing and laughing. not to worry and seeing them like this makes me happy. >> that is michael reporting and this evening on america tonight a look at working conditions inside of japan's city and the criminal organization trying to take the funds from the clean up efforts. >> coming up on al jazeera america, it is cold, 8 degrees in new york city. we have the freezing national forecast coming up.

welcome back to al jazeera america. these are the headlines at this hour. president bam moo is praising the senate vote to extend the jobless benefits and six republicans are joining with the democrats in backing the bill but the house democrats are not satisfied, they want it paid

for. >> tougher security measures in place for the month leading up to the olympics in sochi and russia started a lock down in the city and you have to have a special pass to get around. >> millions of americans are dealing with freezing cold temperatures and 11 deaths are blamed on the cold temperatures and many places are below 0. the colder weather may be behind us and so when are we going to see something warmer? >> a little warmer, actually today across the midwest but over the weekend the temperatures will be climbing. new the temperatures are cold but the winds will be dying down just a bit and cold night tonight. the bitter cold arctic air is over the great lakes, 0 for the temperature in toronto,

cleveland and pittsburgh. warmer in boston 16. but the bitter cold windchills, the winds are continuing to gust and combining those it is down in the teens or below 0. 36 below in cleveland and toronto. frostbite can happen quickly and be careful if you are headed outside. bundle up before you step outside. teens tomorrow morning. p wind is dying down just a bit. still cold though not as uncomfortable or as dangerous this morning. this is polar air and warming up a bit each day. cold air going over the great lakes and causing lake-effect snows and heavy snow, close to 30 inches predicted in western new york. that is another problem today. climbing above freezing and we have rain in the forecast for

the weekend. 33 in the morning. 50 in new york. the temperatures up to 52. the warm air is returning. there will be winter weather as the storm moves to the south from canada and pushing to the south and giving a wintry mix across the southern plains and that is what we are watching for the next winter storm. the temperatures in the 20s across the southeast and a number of records set and the real feel temperature down in the teens and by tomorrow morning still another cold start, not quite as cold in orlando but cold and freezing. >> dave, thank you. thank you for watching al jazeera america. check us out 24 hours aday at al

jazeera.com. a balmy 11 degrees right now in new york city.