see you then. >> good evening everyone. welcome to al jazeera america. i'm john siegenthaler in new york. without water. the state of emergency in west virginia. new details on the chemical leak that's threatening the water supply for hundreds of thousands. the governor sets in. the hacking of the retail giant, the security breach far worse than they first told us. most members of congress are worth seven figures but who earns more? republicans or democrats? plus globe trotters, hollywood's award season kicks off sunday with the winners decided by car salesmen and real estate agents.

tonight, water is on the way to west virginia. washington is sending it in the wake of the dangerous chemical spill into the elk river. this was just moments ago fema trucks arriving in charleston, west virginia bringing the water to hundreds of thousands who can't drink or bathe or use the tainted supply. a federal disaster declaration has been issued for the affected counties. at the same time, an investigation has begun into what happened, why, and who may be responsible. until then, the water supply there is off limits. jonathan martin is on the scene. >> fema and homeland security have brought in about 12 tanker trucks like the one behind me to help with this crisis. many people have been bringing sizable containers and filling them up with water because at this point it is not clear how long this problem will last. it all came to light yesterday

morning when the industrial company freedom industries reported a leak from one of their containers, a chemical leaking right into the elk river. this was an immediate concern because their facility is really close about a mile and a half upstream from the water treatment facility. so this chemical got into the water line and many people started reporting a strange odor, a strange smell to that of licorice or a sweet candy. health officials tested the water and realized it was the chemical used in the preparation of coal. the question right now is how much of the chemical got into the water and hour serious is the risk. >> do not use tap water for drinking, cooking, cleaning, washing or bathing. at this time i do not know how long the order will last. >> the president of the company says they are working around the clock, testing the water and flushing it out and using chemicals that will oxidize the

water. the state has ordered the company freedom industries to remove the chemicals from their property. there is an investigation wanting to know how this chemical leak happened and how authorities were notified in the state. >> jonathan martin in west virginia and the people of west virginia are not strangers to environmental disasters. chuck nelson was a coal miner for 30 years but after seeing the impact the industry is having on his family's health and the environment he became a activate against the coal miners of west virginia. i asked him if he's upset about what's happening. >> yes i'm upset. i live with spills every day and it impacts people's lives. i have seen people die of brain tumors and kidney cancer and some of the coal waste and stuff that i live is a toxic waste dump. you know, after they use this chemical, this chemical that

spilled, with other chemicals, 237 schedules that they use to clean the coal, when they clean the coal you know they actually get it ready for shipment. and the coal floats to the top. you know, they use water, 95 globs per ton of coal and then the coal floats to the top. they rake the coal off, and then they have to do something with the waste they have. >> former coal miner chuck nelson tonight. now to our other big story. the massive security breach at target. the first reports reportedly only scratched the situation. 110,000 possible victims. john terrett is here. >> a target spokes woman confirmed to me that the information may have affected people who shopped at target before the holiday season got underway. that means anyone who shopped at

target before the breach was discovered could have had their personal information stolen. let's take a look in detail of what target tells us has happened and how the company assessed the number of accounts hacked in this cyber-attack which went of course around stores nationwide. now originally target said 40 million accounts had been hacked and affected and they were absolutely right. credit and debit information was taken at that point. we learned that in dis. now today -- in december. now today the company says an additional 70 million accounts were seized and this time personally information may have been captured. now remember, there's an easy way to think about this. there was one hack, says target but two thefts. and in the 70 million one revealed today its names, streets addresses phone numbers and e-mail address addresses that were taind not credit or dibt information. it's possible your personal e-mail was stolen even if you didn't shop with them the date

of the hack, november 27th and december 15th. even before that. you could be at risk and you should check your bill whit comes through. you can go to target's website, if you are worried about it, there it is on the screen and in the meantime, the kerry whose name is -- the ceo whose name is gregstein hoffel, we are truly sorry that they are having to endure that. he goes on understanding and sharing the facts related to this incident is important to te target team. now, target says customers will have zero, zero liability for the cost of any fraudulent charges arising from this breach, if they crop up on your card you won't have to pay. but target will. and target's also said today that it took a big financial hit over and above the cost of sorting all this out when people

abandoned it albeit temporarily whether this came out before christmas. it released guidance, and target is right now telling wall street that it anticipates an overall sales decrease of 2.5%. that's compared to a flat forecast that they had before all this happened. now times are tough for all of us, we know that but they are particularly tough for discounters like target. the reason is there is no fat in the system, they cut everything back to the bone, it's very difficult for them to make money. this hack was not the kind of christmas present that target was looking for in its stocking this year. >> all right john terrett thanks for update tonight. hundreds of documents related to governor chris christie's office, were released tonight william with the apologetic grove at the center. david shuster has the story. >> so far the documents do not appear to undermine governor

christie's position. he says he wasn't involved in the scandal and didn't know about it until this week. probing the scandal raised new questions about the lengths the staff would have had to have gone to keep christie in the dark. in a september 13th e-mail patrick foye warned a number of officials access to the bridge was critical, i believe this hasty decision, foye reported, i'm appalled by the lack of process, and the dangers created to the public. one of the e-mails went to david samson the chairman of the port authority. according to other documents samson met with christie, a week before bridged cel yeah asked the are authority to carry out

the lane closures. >> i'm convinced that he has absolutely no knowledge of this, that this was executed at the operational level. and never brought to the attention of the board of commissioners. >> do you have any questions? >> yet in another september e-mail david wildstein at the time a christie appointee at the authority wrote to one of the staffers, quote, we are reportedly going nuts, samson helping us to retaliate. growing controversy under wraps. bill baroni wrote to colleagues, "i am on my way to the office to discuss. there can be no public discourse." taken together, the documents released friday paint a picture of bridge ant agency officials besieged by anger. e-mails were pouring into the port authority with complaints about the lane closures and the traffic jams in fort lee where

four access lanes had been released to one. the latest batch of documents plan to issue subpoenas forcing christie's staffers to testify under oath. aides and appointees at the authority all of whom are staying silent for now. david shuster, al jazeera. >> on to the grim new jobs report. just 74,000 positions were adding to prms in december and -- to payrolls in december. there is more to that than you might realized. "rea"real money"'s ali velshi gs us the information. >> the problem is when people fall out of the workforce as they did in december basically the whole pool gets smaller and fewer people are working. so it doesn't reflect what's going on. this is something that you'll

see in a dynamic job environment like this. the unemployment rate going down doesn't necessarily mean good news and an unemployment rate going up doesn't necessarily mean bad news. it's got more to do with how many people could be working are actually looking for jobs. that is something called the labor force participation rate. that dropped again this month and it's the lowest level since 1978, john. >> ali thanks very much. congress should extend jobless benefits for the long term unemployed? that program expired at the end of last year. mike viqueria breaks down what is happening in washington. >> the white house for their part when the data gives you lemons they try to make legislative lemonade. they're turning it around and talking about the need to extend long term unemployment insurance. that's bogged down in the senate and mowpts. at thhouse of representatives,le

without benefits. that number is increasing every day. meanwhile the bickering goes on in the u.s. senate after some positive signs earlier this week. jayjay carney tried omake the distinction in the weekly briefing. >> that's something the president has talked about a lot. it is something that is very much at the heart of the debate on how to move forward on extending unemployment insurance benefits we are talking about people who have been unemployed and have been looking for a job and have been doing so for along time. >> the president's economic disparity are viewpoint, the white house has announced plans for the president to travel to

north carolina and the high tech sector of the economy, the president continues to put pressure on congress to pass those unemployment benefits extension as well as raise the minimum wage. back to you. >> mike viqueria, thank you. an indian diplomat arrives home and an american is sent packing. capturing crisis, a photographer tells us the story behind the striking images from south sudan.

>> the indian diplomat accused of lying about how much she paid her housekeeper in the u.s. is back in new delhi, her arrest created one of the most serious break downed in diplomatic relations in years and the backlash is not over. , nidhi dutt reports. >> a diplomat spat between india

and the united states. >> i say no comments now. i want to thank my nation for the support they have given me. >> as she landed events took a new turn. india has asked a diplomat posted in new del high to leave, a twist in the standoff that began almost one month ago, when the diplomat was arrested in new york city. despite being granted diplomatic immunity, a grand jury in the united states has indicted kho braggade for charges including visa dprawd. >> i look forward to proving them wrong. however the nanny at the center of the diplomatic row stand by her are accusations of mistreatment. when i decided to come to the

united states my hope was to work for a few years, to support my family. and then return to india. i never thought that things would get so bad here, that i would work so much that i did not have time to sleep or eat or have time to myself. because of this treatment, i requested that i return to india. but that request was denied. but in india, it's america's treatment of the diplomat and not nanny's case that is the focus of the attention. security barriers from outside the u.s. embassy and the withdrawal of diplomatic privileges traditional reply extended to american consular officials. >> translator: we should show the u.s. that we are equals. we should not be pressured by america or any other developed nation. >> she is not april individual, she is representing india in the

u.s. i as an indian think u.s. woman is taking back step and indian woman the case ultimately. >> domestic political pressures have also played a part of the indian handling of this case. politicians want to be seen as strong leaders particularly when it comes to defending yifned on- india on the world stage. libi dutt, nu del high, al jazeera. according to a diplomatic cable cited by the washington post, dye has called for the release of prisoners accused of killing troops of the u.s. secure a deal in the coming weeks to keep 92nd troops in afghanistan beyond this year. celebration in the central african republic today.

the residents in the capital bangui cheered the resignation of the interim president and his prime minister, comes two weeks after talks of neighboring corte madera. the president swept into power last year but critics are accusing him of not doing enough to stop sectarian violence in the country. thousands have been killed. an attempt to secure a assesceasefire. thousands have died during month long fighting and many more are trying to credi flee conflict z. >> the doors to this cargo plane have been closed. for now only the wounded have bebeen allowed in.

a few civilians have been allowed on board, many women and children. they leave a community trying to recover from weeks of fighting. government officials say they have recaptured bentu and parts of eunof unity state. >> the images of the women and children killed some of them are even slaughtered and many of them are not buried. i was unable to sleep at all. this is not the nation we wanted. this is not the home i dream of before the independence at all. >> reporter: many people haven't returned. there are no civilians here. the place is deserted. when the fighting started, many ran to the u.n. base, others went as far as the capital juba. here is another blow to the state, production of the oil

facility has stopped. before being sent to sudan along the appliance. the government blames the rebels for the destruction. >> they have destroyed the facility processing of taken and removed out all electronic machines, you know, in the operation rooms. and they remove all assets that belong to the staffs, and then also, the same damage reach up to thomas house and where the place under control of those people so they actually destroyed so many facilities. >> some locals believe the power struggle between president salva kiir and his former deputy is tearing along ethnic and tribal lines. government officials say they will soon capture towns captured

by the rebels. south sudan. >> many have run to u.n. bases for safety. photojournalist nicole sobieki has been following had ongoing crisis and shared her experience from one rebel held camp. >> these are people who have gone through decades of war. the majority of their life has been lived in conflict. they are coming off these boats empty handed to arrive at a camp for displaced people that is freshly set up, barely has clean water, has very little shelter, and i think there is a real sense of lost hope. people have been traveling all night. left the bor region, swampy land full of modification. they have had to leave -- fr full of mosquitoes, most have

lost relatives or friends in the conflict. so you can imagine this is not really where they want to be. the greatest humanitarian need is clean water right now. they are plifg alongside the nile -- living alongside the nile, it is not good drinking water. aids organizations are trying ramp up quickly, but there are not enough latrines or sanitary facilities, not enough shelter, the temperatures at night can become quite cold so people are trying to struggle to meet their most basic needs. this is a scene around one of the port areas and the child was lying on the ground. their family was not in sight and people were just walking past the sleeping child. and didn't appear to be ill. i'm sure her family was around. but it's -- there's just this sense of sort of everyone sort of trying to find their way. everyone seems a little bit lost.

>> now, nick oh says she believes people of south sudan want their story told so the people of the world know what they're going through. now to tobacco and cigarettes. 50 years ago, ash trays were on nearly every table. then the motion senior doctor in america says smoking kills. kimberly halcut trveg has the story. >> it was 1952, the report concluded that smoking causes illness and death, the report was not well received especially by the biggest tobacco companies. hiring celebrities and even doctors to promote the joiment and even safety of cigarettes. >> more doctors smoke camels than any other cigarette.

>> requiring warning labels on tobacco products and eventually it imposed tighter restrictions on tobacco advertising. most successful campaign in the united states. smoking rates are now down 59%. back in 1964, 42% of u.s. adults were smoking compared to just 18% in 2012. the government tobacco efforts, which included bans of smoking in public places have helped to save lives. >> nothing has come close to this contribution to the safety of americans, nothing. >> there is still more work to be done. they say the number of americans smoking may have dropped in the decades but globally that's not case. this antismoking campaigner says in the last century 100 million

people have died from tobacco use across the globe and he says until big tobacco companies are restrained that number is expected to rise to 1 billion smoking deaths this century particularly in low and middle income countries. >> the tobacco industry is carefully meticulously and targeting people in those countries. everywhere we go, we see the kind of marketing in low and middle income countries that hasn't been allowed in the united states, europe and other wealthy nations in decades. >> even in the u.s. he says more than 3,000 children still try their first cigarette every day. it's a trend he says will will only be reversed by even stricter restrictions, kimberly hellcutt, al jazeera,

washington. >> coming couple the win are is the colorful and unlikely players who decide who get golden globe awards.

interwelcome back to al jazeera america. here are the top stories. a state of emergency in west virginia. about 300,000 people are without water after a chemical spill along the elk river in charleston. the white house issued a federal disaster declaration. the target credit issues are larger. the data breach could effect up to 110,000 shoppers. names, addresses, e-mail addresses and phone numbers.

congress is stepping pressure to extend unemployment insurance. no secret that most members of congress make more money than the average american. turns out for the first time ever most law makessers are actually millionaires. that's according to the report of the center for responsible politics. morgan radford is with us. my morgan. >> hi john. financial disclosures from last year showed that at least 268 of them are worth $1 million or more on average. that's more than half. keep in mind these numbers ever estimates. the exact figures could be even higher and that's because members of congress don't have to specify how much their spouses are worth. they can check a box for assets

more than $1. million. gop lawmakers have a net median worth of $1 million but for democrats it's slightly higher. republican member of the house darryl issa made his fortune secondly car lawrmts alarms. worth about $464 million. dave welcome. >> good to be with you. >> what struck you about the report? >> what struck me is not only are the numbers going up and up and up, president obama giving a speech about poverty, there being a huge debate in congress right now through december and january about unemployment insurance they're trying to be the party of the poor, of the working man, of the middle class and yet democrats are actually

on average in congress as you just said a little bit wealthier than even republicans are. as we transition here into 2014, as we head into a mid term election cycle there is going to be a political struggle going on, doesn't play into the hands of the democrats, quite the opposite, we are in the same boat as democrats, coming from modest means, we are all kind of wealthy but at the end of the day, we're all kind of wealthy. >> the top 20 in congress, top 20 millionaires they make i guess from darryl issa is on top right? >> he is. there are several congressmen historically, you look back the past couple of years, the current study that's been out now, there are not millionaires, there are not tens of millionaires, but hundreds of millionaires. >> like 45 million, top 20 members of congress which seems

pretty remarkable. >> at a broader scope here when you talk about members of congress and you talk about how in touch they are, with the average working person, somebody who's trying to make ends meet, who may have two or three kids at home, a single mom, go on and on and on, really what you have is a situation where almost all members of congress, there are some exceptions but almost all members of congress are factors of two, three, ten, 20 times richer and more wealthy than the average person who oftentimes are representing and in talking about representing and not only a political way but an economic way. >> where does a member of congress invest their money? >> in stocks that are very, popular, g.e, mobile, exxon,

chase, on and on and on, in addition to being familiar names to most people, they're the companies that lobby washington the most, the companies that have the most contracts with washington. many of the most popular stocks and investments among lawmakers, members of congress, in 2012 were defense contractors. you have this very intimate intersection if you will between those types of companies, the political influence efforts they have in washington and the members of congress thems who have a financial interest in those, trying to press them for this that and the other thing and doing so every day. >> how do you think a report like this translates into the mid term elections? what are people going othink about this? >> it does dull the enthusiasm, it might be that much harder for democrats to hold that banner or have that mangt l and

republicans may have stories of people, take steve stockman the representative in congress running against john cornan, he was homeless at one point. there are exceptions to the rule. the representative from arizona lived in an empty gas station when she was growing up with her mother. there are stories of people who came from almost nothing to practically nothing, who rose to a very high salary well into the six figures. >> did most of them inherit this big money or did they make it themselves? >> some of both some came if you will born with a silver spoon in their mouth, have never had a tough day in their life at least economically speaking, they have not wanted, been on food stamps calm the things that have been debairted in congress they have

never been themselves, they came from wealth themselves, came from more than modest means, grew up in a middle class or upper middle class family, been able to build a life for themselves and found themselves in a position of power. you do have a bit of a dichotomy there but generally speaking the majority both democrats and republicans have not been born into poverty. they have not been born poor, they've been relative wealthy or at least solidly middle class throughout their lives and are here in washington today again earning a very nice salary and doing very well for themselves. >> interesting report, thanks very much. >> even though the state government refuses to do so, the supreme court will put civil unions on hold after an appeal

by the state. recognize 1,000 couples married before the federal ruling making them eligible for federal benefits. >> federal benefits on the same terms as other same sex marriages. these families should not be asked to endure uncertainty regarding their status as the litigation unfolds. >> poandz oopponents of the meae spoken out against the ruling. same sex marriages and receptions are prohibited in their churches and overstepped federal authority. the u.s. government is urging americans attending the olympics to be cautious in sochi. it issued a warning about terrorist activity and hostage-taking. lisa stark has the story. >> it is not unusual for the state department to issue a travel advisory, they did it in

2008 when china held the summer olympics. this is a particularly extensive alert. the state department says it's not aware of any particular threats against u.s. citizens but it says americans who attend the games should, quote, remain attentive americans are to avoid large crowds and to exercise good judgment. the alert has pointed out there are three suicide attacks in a city close to sochi against public transportation, about 30 people were killed in those attacks. this is an area where there is a lot of unrest as part of the world and in fact there is an organization that the u.s. has designated as a terrorist organization that has threatened some sort of action during the games. that's why we're seeing this extensive alert. now russians are saying they are starting to ratchet up security in the olympic village area. they say there will be about

100,000 security personnel on site, that includes police as well as the russian army. the fbi is also involved. they are sending some two dozen agents to work with russian intelligence, some will be situated in the moscow some in sochi. the president, first lady and vice president biden have all indicated they are not going to attend the olympics. openly gay athlete billie jean king the tennis player, a signal from the u.s. about how it feels about the anti-gay laws that were passed not long ago in russia. >> our thanks olisa stark. and now to more olympic coverage and a conversation with one of the all time olympic greats. john henry smith. >> it was a fascinating

interview, jacki jackie joyner r kerrsee. >> called the triple play, the game plan for the mind, body and soul, coca-cola company is the sponsor and we had over 200 families to enter into the contest and now it's down to five and they're going to be in los angeles and the winning family will have an opportunity to go to the olympic training center in colorado springs, colorado. >> let's get to the upcoming olympics and i tell you the olympics already are controversial. they haven't even started yet, partly because of the russian government stance on the lgbt community and also partly because there are concerns about safety. the state department has put out a message saying that americans should watch themselves over there. did you ever feel unsafe competing at the olympics? >> you were aware that there was

a possibility that something could happen. no one could, you know, never forget what happened in munich. and so you were always very aware. but the olympic committee, and the international olympic committee will do their best to protect us. and so they really wanted us to focus on what we had to do athletically, but you know, we live in different times now, so you can't really ease up on just being too relaxed. you have to be aware of your surroundings and do everything in a group and just be aware. >> certainly the olympics like every other sport it seems has had to deal with the cloud of performance-enhancing drugs. how bad was it during your day, and do you think that situation is getting any better? do you think athletes are competing on a more level playing field at this point? >> you know what? you can't say if it was during

our era, you know. they want to say every great performance maybe it was tainted and it's unfortunate because for someone like myself who worked day in and day out having a dream, and to not -- to be aware, you know, you have the drug testing, they are trying put things in place but you know if people are going ocheat they are going to cheat and it's unfortunate, it takes away from those who are putting in the hard work every day to be the very best. >> well, our thanks to jackie joyner kersee, the feaf female athlete of the century. john. >> thank you, shaking things up for charities that depend on the wealthy, melissa chan has that story.

>> the symphony, the venerable pillar of light, but in san francisco, classical music has to keep up with the times. >> we are spending more money on marketing. we're working really, really hard to build that loyalty between our audience and the symphony. >> for decades, well centuries the music hall would be the one of the first places that see the largesse of millionaires but tech millionaires want to give different, reinvent philanthropy. take jason a startup millionaire and investor. he is employing miss entrepreneurial skills for good. at causes.com. the goal like they love to say here can is to change the world. >> working at causes is the best way i can think of to give back.

>> the catch? causes is for profit. redefining charity and creating the confidence that as much as it makes money. >> they are treating it like a business and venture capitol. they are specific with their giving and they want results. >> some have called it philanthro-capitalism. they believe the same are issues that made their businesses successful ought to apply to giving, 20 million students powered by wealthy engineers to promote computer science education. >> certainly my brother and i but more importantly many of the other people are also very successful entrepreneurs who don't need to work but are doing it out of passion for the cause. >> daniel leery come from a family of philanthropists,

working by measuring results, whether low income students read better. >> we have no endowment. every dollar we raise goes out the door within 12 months. >> depending on new philanthropy may turn out to be a struggle for traditional nonprofits like the san francisco symphony and fans may wonder how flen could put a number on the impact of beethoven. melissa chan, al jazeera, san francisco. >> up next, riding tides, new concerns that big changes could be coming to the california coast.

>> the northeast has been dealing with rain today, started as snow. while temperatures were warming up we had a big problem with snow going to freezing rain,

going to ice across the country and freezing rain advisors going up into maine. we are going to shift the concern from temperatures and freezing to rain and warming. wind advisories high wind watches in place all the way from manhattan to massachusetts. we are expecting the wind to increase saturday in places new york city to boston. winds gusting 35 to 50 miles per hour. and we have a high wind watch in place for parts of maine. now the forecast will call for plenty of mountain snow to the west along with several hits of rain with showers in between. it's going to be windy also for the northwest. montana into western washington and oregon we're going oget strong gusts lot of wind advisories in effect for the west. east coast as we get into sunday the mountain snow continues throughout the west especially

the rockies. >> beach erosion is already causing problems in the california coast making exchanges like rising sea levels a real danger. city of los angeles is making

bryan rooney reports. >> every at low tide, the study says that the pacific could rise by as much as two feet by the year 2050 which is a lot if there's a big storm. cities like los angeles are going to have to think about engineering a future that could survive rising sea levels and raging storms. >> the danger is that more severe storms and bigger waves, coupled with high tides, we will see more flooding, certainly see more flooding in those coastal areas. >> in potential danger are densely populated coastal areas, this waste water plant and power plants would be vulnerable to flooding. as storms become bigger and more powerful with bigger waves and higher tides, beach communities in southern california and beyond may have to begin building protective barriers for

homes and public facilities along the coast. los angeles officials say they need to do it in the next few years, and not when it becomes an emergency. especially in communities where low-income renters live in older buildings that are not prepared to weather storm. >> those are the places where we expect to see the most flooding. they're also the communities that have the most social vulnerability, the pofntion he thad.the population he that popn danger of losing. >> no sand, no, sir at many tourists. >> that's brian rooney reporting. and one of the most feared features has a chance at redemption. creatures have a chance of redemption. 2300 pound great white shark up and down the west coast. julia yarborough reports. >> meet katherine, a great white

shark who is helping researchers uncovered the secrets of one of the most feared and misunderstood predators. researchers at the shark biology program says recorded scientific data on great whites is limited but that's changing because of katherine and other sharks like her. >> i believe there is a general fascination and the general me public looks at this as a beautiful species, a majestic species. it's such a large species it plays into our primal fears. >> primal fears stoked by years for entertainment like jaws. the research organization osearch, a team caught katherine off the coast of massachusetts and tracked her.

what's known as shark tracker allows anyone to go online and view data on katherine and other great white sharks. >> it sparked intrigue for great white shark. >> coming as far south as datona beach, florida and she roamed near cape canaveral. >> information on katherine's exact whereabouts and travel patterns. they hope the compilation of that data will let them know how many are in the region, if their presence here is in any way related to their breeding patterns. >> marine biology student brenda anderson is studying great white production and breeding. researchers believe their population is small and breed

slowly. she performed an ultrasound on the shark. >> she was a wild one. >> anderson says her findings could be crucial to understanding great white sharks and ensuring their survival. >> we want to see if we can track their migration patterns, if 2003 find out later on that their population is declining we can know these areas and protect them. >> researchers hope that as technology improves they will learn even more about the greatly white and show that a feared predator is really much more intelligent than originally thought. julia yarbeau, al jazeera, california. >> stealing the show, it's not stars at this sunday's golden dploabs, it's the folks who choose the winners.

>> that's a scene from gravity. , sandra bullock is up for a

golden globe award. we're interested in the real power players, the people who decide who wins. and that may be the strangest group of folks you'll ever meet. david poled, editor of -- poanldpolepoland. who are they? >> sometimes it's 86, sometimes it's 89 depending who lives or dice. they basically spend all year wined and dined by studios. >> that compares to how many in the academy? >> 6,000. all who have been qualified. >> what sort of perks do they get as those 85 or 88 or 86

people who actually make the decision? >> well to start with they're traveled all over the world by the studios, throughout the year. they're given special access to the talent, their private press conferences, god knows if you are not one of them you're not allowed to be anywhere near the press conference. every time they see a movie they get a free dinner with it, sometimes they are given concerts, pretty much anything can you think of. >> what are the requirements to be a member? >> that you got in somehow. basically. >> who are they? >> they're people who do have -- who have written over the years for foreign papers. they are for that country but they live in los angeles now. and it's only one per country. so the 86 countries that are represented, it's one person per country. and so you kind of have to wait until somebody dies. >> they all live in l.a?

>> they all live in l.a. now, all people who have moved to l.a. >> so what does that tell you about the awards, what does it make the awards in your opinion? >> it tells you about awards in general that ultimately if you can get a television slot which dick clark, they were on nbc but dick clark put them up into the big time about 30 years ago now. and once they became a television show all the jokes about pia zadora went away and they became a legitimate tv show and then all of a sudden everybody wanted to get on the gravy boat or the gravy train consume. >> how much does this organization maim now? >> eight to $12 million a year. >> where does that money go? >> they give away some of it which is lovely of them and probably has tax benefits. as a member you get two tickets to any film festival in the

world. >> do you see anything positive about these awards? >> no, they become a marketing tool, they are usually between the nomination of the academy awards and the wins. if you have a tv platform, if you have a print platform, everybody wants to show up and look pretty and this gives them a chance to do so. >> it will happen and i'll probably watch it. david, good to see you, thanks for coming. >> always a pleasure, enjoy the globes. >> our top stories, coming up next.

>> welcome to al jazeera america. i'm john siegenthaler in new york. here are the top stories. hundreds of thousands without tap water in west virginia. the white house has issued a disaster declaration after a chemical spill along the elk river. the data breach at target keeps getting bigger now the company says up to 110 million shoppers could have been affected and what's worse, target says hackers stole more than originally reported including names, mailing addresses, e-mail addresses and phone numbers. >> congress facing renewed pressure to extend long term unemployment benefits after job figures for the end of the year