heli and welcome to al jazerra america he actual jonathan pw*erts in new york. words are respect and criticism for ariel sharon the legacy of the controversial israeli prime minister. on the defensive, why the water kept running in west virginia even though it was no longer safe to drink. prison over profits question whether it's ethical for country to his care for inmates. a texas club offers off a hunt to kill an inning dangered rhi rhino.

millions warmly called him the bulldozer but for others he was the butcher. tonight the would is remembering ariel sharon, he died today at the age of 85 after eight years any coma. even in the end his son said he went on his own terms. >> that's it. he's gone. he went when he decided to go. >> and many israelis are mourning tonight. the country's president spoke about the deep love many had for the former prime minister. >> the loss of one of its greatest leaders, former prime minister ariel sharon. he was an outstanding man and an exceptional commander. who moved his people and loved them. and the people loved him. >> here in the u.s. president obama expressed had i condolences saying, quote, on the loss of a leader who

dedicated his life to the state of i says reel. we join with the israeli people in honoring his commitment to his country. vice president joe biden will lead the u.s. delegation for the memorial service. sharon will lie? state starting in just a few hours. on monday, he's expected to be given a military funeral at his family farm. nick schifrin has the latest from jerusalem. >> reporter: good everything, jonathan, here in is reeling mostly they are mourning a man that they used to call king eric. for his military victories using his original first name. but just a few miles from here in the palestinian territories there are some people celebrating, some people rejoicing, a man that they used to call a brutal bulldozer. but nonetheless, everyone here, the pa palestinian territories a cross region all were affected by sharon's policies. he was on the public stage for 60 years. and from the beginning to the end, he was polarizing. it was a moment that defined everything that he stood for.

in 2000 in jerusalem, ariel sharon walked through the plaza. >> no provocation here. the provocation was only on the other side. >> reporter: but a provocation is exactly what it was. he asserted israeli claims over space arabs find sacred. his visit triggered outrage in the second palestinian up rising but the violence it helped spark, propelled him to election as prime minister. and proved once again that the brash bull-headed sharon did what he wanted. seized land he desired and nobody dared stop him. as much as anyone in the last 50 years, sharon helped define the israeli state. many israelis loved him for it. many others despised him. first he was a successful soldier, his campaigns redraw the state's borders. in 1967 he won one of the most sensational battles in sake-day

war. israel suddenly doubled in size. in 1973, as a battlefield general, his leadership prevented almost certain defeat in the war. in 1982 as defense minister he led the invasion of lebanon. but after the victory, he ordered his force to his stand by as the lebanese fires he was supported slaughtered hundreds if not thousands of palestinian refugees. it should have been the end of his career. towed resign and an israeli commission of inquiry found him indirectly responsible. but sharon survived and eventually returned to power as a right wing politician. he helped create the political party that currently leads israel. and he masterminded the modern settler movement. a legal and controversial, he saw settlements in the palestinian west banks as bull works against arab neighbors he never trusted. >> all those communities that you build, gaza district, the

heights, they are not obstacle to peace. they are obstacle to war. >> reporter: and for sharon, there was no greater obstacle than long time nemesis i can'ter is arafat. for decades he targeted the palestinian leaders and forced arafat in to exile from lebanon when he was pal stil palestinian president, sharon laid sting. arafat was a prisoner in his home and in the end left without seeing the state that sharon fought so hard against. >> one must understand that we speak about a murderer. he's a murderer. a pathological liar. >> reporter: sharon always promised israel's security and always took the long-term view. in 2001, during a wave of suicide bomb attacks, sharon chose separation. he ordered the construction of a massive wall. it ghettoized some of the west

bank, took land palestinians called their own and once again redefined the borders. >> i understand the peace, but of course the first thing and the most important within, is to bring security to the citizens of israel. >> reporter: and when he decided that security meant removing settlers from the gaza strip, the father of the settlement movement withstood heavy resistence. once again, sharon did what he wanted with land israel seized. it was on his way to being reflected prime minister, but in 2006, he suffered a massive stroke, he was brought by ambulance to his hospital and never woke up. always polarizing, aerial sharon was seen by many as the sign of israeli strength. others saw the symbol of israeli cruelty. but as one writer put it, his story became israel's story and today's israel is sharon's israel. >> and that polorization continues even in his death

where some allies are calling him one of israel's great protectors and the most important architect. spokesman for hamas which runs the gaza strip said this, sharon is, quote, a criminal whose hands were smeared with the broad oublood of our people. so tonight, lot of opinion about his this man who affected everybody in israel in the palestinian sturtz and the ring. >> una huge impact without question. our nick schifrin tonight in jerusalem. as he explained many pal tin generals view him as a fierce opponents of their independents, our zeina has more from across the board never lebanon. >> reporter: more than 30 years ago these streets were littered with mutilated bodies, dead people. well, elderly, the children. palestinians who were killed in the infamous massacre in 1982. today, people are celebrating, distributing sweets, once they learned of the death of ariel sharon the former israeli prime minister. in 1980 two, he was defense

minister, the israeli army was in beirut, they invaded beirut, ladies anlaid siege too this ca. >> reporter: said that they were pursuing fighters belonging to the palestinian liberating organization but what happened a lebanese militia allied to the is rally i'm entered the camp and carried out the killings. most the survivors you talk to, of course they are rejoicing his death. no one here is mourning his death. but what they would have wanted to see, was ariel sharon be taken to an international court, tried for what they see are the crimes committed against them, but that never happened. there were numerous attempts, but a lot of surviveers said sharon's death will not change much for us, because he was just an israeli official. it's a policy, it's a state policy which they believe the israeli government will never, for example, allow these people to go back home. hundreds of thousands, want to be able to go back home. in compliance with u.n. resolution giving them the right to return.

>> that was zeina khodr in pain route, lets turn now in james gelvin. thanks for being with us tonight. >> thank you for having me. >> let's talk about this narrative we have seen come out since sharon's death that he became this great force for peace later in life, do you think that's fair? >> no, it's not particularly fair at all. the problem was there were negotiations going on ins o oslo in 2001, sharon had decided that those negotiations would be ov over. what he attempted to do is unilaterally impose people on the palestinians, done through the wall which would have set the borders of israel and the west bank. also done through the gaza withdrawal. gaza was a territory that the is reallies wanted to get out since 1967. if the unilateralism was to work, therefore what, would happen would be that there would nobody negotiations

overboarders, no negotiations over jerusalem, no negotiations over right of return. in other words, what sharon was trying to do was to impose a unilateral set. luckily, that failed. >> but is that fair, show, since his decision to remove settlers from goes tkpwa*z aways very controversial, a lot of i says reallies did not like it, especially within his own party. he was reaching across a divide saying he wanted an independent palestinian state. >> he didn't care one way or the other. his pol policy was to draw the , build the wall to create the boundaries. as he put it. if the pal tin generals want to have a state, great. if they want to have anarchy over there. we don't care, we want our 85% of the territory of historic palestine, we want jerusalem and make sure the right of return is off the table. >> let's talk about that wall then. why is that such a sore point for so many people? especially since -- there are

two ways to look at it one he was protect i says reallies. i guess he created a border that would define for kind of first time a palestinian state. >> that's absolutely true. you know, the united states has a wall separating it from mexico. the difference between our wall and the is really wall, is that the american wall is built on american soil. this wall weaves far in to israeli -- in to west bank territory. cuts off farmers, for example, the villages from their farmlands. it separates villages, it creates cantons within the area. it literally creates facts on the ground. know, the wall will become the starting point for border negotiations. and this is the same thing that had been going on since the beginning of the settle. the idea of creating facts on the ground that the palestinians would have to deal with that would become the starting point, not the end point, the starting point for negotiations of a final border. >> now that we talk about

current negotiations between is reallies and palestinians what do you think sharon's impact will be on that? >> i think sharon's overall impact is minimal. actually. i think that what has gone on since sharon has been the is reallies have decided that they don't want to negotiate, they don't want to further it. you can see it now the famous issue about the palestinians have to he can recognize is reeling it is a jewish state that. did not emerge actually until the george w. bush administration until 2007 at the annapolis talks, so every time there is a possibility for breakthrough or the americans begin to put the screws on, something else emerges. now it's a jordan valley that the israelis have to keep. now it's also the recognition of the jewish state. we don't even know what is going to appear in the future. >> okay. we will see what happens as they say. thank you so much, james gelvin, los angeles, ucla thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you for having me.

well, water company is defending its decision not to shutdown immediately following a chemical spill in charleston, we west virginia. company said it needed to stay open so there would be without fore fire protection and sanitation. jonathan martin is in charleston with more on how 300,000 people are dealing with life without water. >> reporter: with no clear time line for when tap water will be safe to use again, thousands of west virginia ans are stocking up on clean water. where they can find it. >> just been using it sparingly, it's a precious commodity right now. >> reporter: the federal emergency management agency is delivering 1 million liters of water to the nine affected counties. >> just getting up and washing your hair, you know, simple things like feeding a baby if you have baby with formula just really catches you off guard. >> i caught rain water this morning to do my dishes with. >> reporter: the state's health department says the water juan contaminateed with a potentially

harmful chemical. hcmh crude which is used in the preparation of coal. up to $5,000 spilled in the elk river from a storage tank at freedom industries, prompting a state of emergency lex declaration. the problem is also impacting hundreds of businesses from restaurants to salons, many are being forced to shutdown. >> we have no idea when we'll get a report that the water is safe enough to use. >> reporter: steve blake seu hair dress never do you understand charleston. >> my clients come in they want their hair shampooed or it's necessary to shampoo or without fore certain chemical services that we perform. put that we cannot work. >> reporter: charleston medical center is using two giants tankers to get clean water. the hospital says it's enough to last a few days. for now, all nonemergency surgeries have been put on hold. hospitals report only a small number of patients have come in complaining of symptoms related to the chemical spill. they include their, their, a vg

and diarrhea they are testing and plush flushing out the system each other. the president of chemical company says they are declining but don't have a broad enough sample of the water to say that it's safe to use. >> and our jonathan martin reporting there in charleston, west virginia tonight. well, amex rodriguez is out for the 2014 season and arbitrator shortened his punishment for alleging using performance-enhancing drugs but not by enough. john henry smith reports that the fight is not over for the yankee slugger. >> reporter: the good news for alex record in the wake of the arbitrators ruling is that he won't have to serve the full 211 game suspension 11 i said last august by commissioner bud seeing big. the bad news for rodriguez, is that he is still suspended for a full season's worth of games, 162, as well as the post season. major league baseball released a statement that reads, quote, for

more than five decades the arbitration under the basic agreement has been a fair and effective mechanism for resolving disputes and protecting player rights. while we believe the original 211-game suspension was appropriate, we respect the decision rendered by the panel. and will focus our continuing efforts to eliminate performance-enhancing substances from our game. not surprisingly, rodriguez says he's unhappy with the ruling, but not surprised. his statement reads in part. quote, the deck has been stacked against me from day one. this is one man's decision. that was not put before a fair and impartial jury. does not involve me having failed a single drug test, unfeed. later, rodriguez goes on to say, quote, i have been clear that i did not use performance-enhancing substances as alleged in the notice of discipline or violate the basic agreement or the joint drug agreement in any manner.

and in order to prove it, i will take this fight to federal court. unquote. a-rod indicates later he's confident that a federal judge will overturn the suspension. sports law attorney ted coreless thinks a-rod's confidence is misplaced. >> he'll have to demonstrate fraud, corruption or undue influence in order to overturn the arbitration decision. that's not only unlikely, it's have you ever till impossible. >> reporter: assuming rodriguez does sit out his pulling season suspension, he will forfeit his $25 million salary for 2014, willing he also be forfeiting making a comeback to baseball? that's a question the yankees will have to deal with as soon as spring training. reports are rodriguez plans to showing up, and according to baseball's joint drug agreement, the yankees can't stop him unless they cut him. that would be expensive, though. the team still owes rodriguez $61 million. if the yankees do go that route, the 38-year-old's career could

end without him getting the 109 home runs necessary to become baseball's automatic-time leader. or the 61 hits needed to join the exclusive 3,000 hits club. if this is the end, for alex rodriguez, he not only leaves without those great achievements, like roger clemens and barry bonds before him, he also leaves a legacy forever tainted. john henry smith, al jazerra. >> all right, jessica is here to talk about this more. i know we'll see a-rod in court. but i winter will we ever see him on the field again? >> that's the $60 million question. the yankees want to know too, alex rodriguez says he plans to attends spring training in tampa but would the yankees actually want him there? that was the question that we pose today michael o'keef from the new york daylight news earlier, who has been discovering the saga since day one. >> certainly almost certainly shimmed for the minor league camp across the street from where the big leaguers wok out.

that might be humiliating to him. something he may not want to do i think there is going to be discussions happening in the next couple of days, few years about what will happen once we hit the middle of february. and the players return to tampa for spring training. >> so we will stay tune forked that. the yankees pitchers and scratchers report february 14th for spring training full squads expected for report six days later on the 20th. so i think this news will keep going on and going. >> time is of the essence with him. >> absolutely. >> he's getting older. >> 39 years old, couple of hip surgeries being walling see. >> thanks, jessica. still ahead prisons for profit. is it check collar even ethical to pay company to his lock up people? >> it's a big huge low pressure. we have so much wind. in the 3 o'clock however, the airport recorded a wind gust of 66 miles per hour.

football players were sitting in the stadium dealing with the wind and the rain. now you can see that seriously heavy rain has changed over to shower bans. all that rain has pushed up in the mountains and coming down as snow. this is the last gasp of the strong wind gusts. out on the ghost we have gusts up to 40 miles per hour, and 74 miles per hour at last check. we this great falls, montana report 60 miles per hour because an area of low pressure crossing over vancouver island. it's a sweet spot for wind north-west. the wind interacts with the mountains, wrapping around the mountains, channelling through them and has no place to go. that wind funnelled up through the sound and brought you the powerful winds and is interacting towards the rockies, and we'll have strong winds

continuing into monty python. this is what it looks like lower than 3,000 feet. finally you get snow. you haven't have skiing. tonnes of snow in the mountains. a foot tonight and tomorrow. this snow will push into the rockies, and we'll continue with the wind to the east. to the north-east it is all about the flooding. we are focussing on how much snow is falling in the north-west for water supply. >> it is stunning, the change in degrees. we talk about the n.f.l. games. the high winds knocking up power idaho is taking overcontrol of its privately-run, for-profit prison, the state's taxpayers have paid corrections corporation of america

$29 million to run the facility. but the company has been the subject of lawsuits and allegations of violence and now contract fraud. our courtney kealy is here with more on the story. courtney. >> jonathan despite idaho's decision, many states turn to for-profit prison to his help ease overcrowding this despite reports of abuse, violence and fraud in several of them. an investigation by the associated press led to the release of this video, it shows one inmate at the idaho correctional center beating another. while no one, not even the guards, bothers to stop the fight. the. >> the beating went on so long that inmate that was attack him sat down to take a break to catch his breath. >> reporter: a.p. reporter remember duh boone has been investigating the direction system in idaho for the past several years. >> we found that it had a rate three times higher than all the other prisons in the state. >> reporter: the c.c. actual, known as the correctional corporation of america, runs the idaho correctional center. the only privately run prison in

the state. inmates and prison guards nicknamed it the gladiator school. even though the fight was visible on surveillance cameras it took 10 minutes for guards for step? the beaten inmate sustained permanent brain damage. c.c.a. later settled a lawsuit with the family. it's one of many that have been filed against the company. but the release of the surveillance video didn't prompt any major changes. then in 2012, boone's investigation revealed cca had billed the state for more than 3,000 hours for which no one had done any work. it was only at the beginning of this year that governor c.l. announced idaho would not renew its contract with cca. the governor said it's parents to me that our goal of consistency, successful day-to-day operations is better served at this time by the state of idaho taking a more direct management role. on friday, the governor otter who has traditionally been in

favor to private prisons said the hand over should happen immediately. however he may not have had a choice, cca decided not bid for a contract renewal and none of its competitors were will to step in. the top three private prison management companies cca, the gio group and mtc operate more than 130 facilities nationwide. and idaho isn't the only place where private prisons have con run in to controversy. a little more than two years ago dozens of inmates were injured when a fight at a prison run lie cca in oklahoma turned in to a riot. yet the state's board of corrections just vote today consider expanding use of privately-owned prison to his help reduce overcrowding. iand california is under pressue to do the same. >> we are talking about perhaps less than 10% of the total american prison population. >> reporter: i spoke with martin a former commission of correction in new york city and pennsylvania. >> there are as many bad stories coming out of public prisons as there are out of private

prisons. probably even more. >> reporter: another reason states may be turn to go privately-run prisons, lobbying and political spending. these companies spends 10s of thousands in political contributions in key states. so despite any controversy, it doesn't look like they are going away any time soon. cca settled several lawsuits recently. but still made $1.7 billion in profits last year. when we reached out to the company as well as governor otter several times for comment, but we received no reply. jonathan. >> a lot of money at stake there. thanks, courtney. to understand this issue you better i spoke earlier with adrian moore of the reason foundation, ahead ex-friedman the managing erred of the monthly magazine prison legal news, they say private prisons are subject to more lawsuits, abuse also happens in public facilities. >> there aren't any studies showing that private prisons have better conditions than governor-run prisons. but there are a number of study that his show that conditions overall looking at hundreds of

facilities, are as good as private prisons. and there is a couple reasons for that, one is private prison guards do not have sovereign immunity from being sued for violating prisoners' rights, so private prison companies are much more subject to lawsuits from inmates, so they have a big incentive to keep a lid on that. and second, as i mentioned, you have the oversight from the state that doesn't exist with state facilities. look at places like california, where abuse of inmates and withholding of their rights went on for decades before finally a lawsuit got the federal government to step in. and l.a. county jails where abuses went on for years, and years before finally the federal government is stepping in to investigate. i mean, this is a problem that is unfortunately occurs within the correctional system. >> there has been abuse in prisons for many, many years, whether they are privately or publicly run. he does make a good appointment. that some of these private prisoners have more controls,

layers of scrutiny. what do you make that have? >> well, certainly i would you not disagree that we have problems in our public system too. systemically our criminal justice system has a lot of issues involved, particularly with medical, mental health care and so on. whether it's public or private. that's across the board. however, a few points, one, mr. horn what he actually said was the reports of bad things happening are coming equally out of publicist prisons and private prisons. but the problem is, private prisons only house 8% of state and federal inmates nationwide. so 92% of them are publicly run, these facilities. yet we seem to have a disproportionality number of reports coming out of the privately operated prisons as opposed to their public counterparts, that being said in terms of monitoring and layers and making sure that these companies do the right thing, where were the monitors at the idaho prison, were all these abuses were happening for years?

where were the mourn tours at the mtc prison in arizona where three prisoners escaped and systemic gross violations of guards ignoring fence alarms and so on. just having monitor is his not enough. the public prison system literally every employee in the public prison system is a monitor over that facility. if you have one or two state monitors at a private prison, history has shown that that's inning such they are not doing a sufficient job of monitoring. the thousand or 2,000 prisoners that are actually held at that facility. big district attorney bait in the united states. there is a lot more ahead including another major retailer has its customers private information stolen. that story coming up. and closing guantanamo bay in cuba. president obama promised it back in 2008, yet six years later, the prison remains open.

activists show the

♪ ♪

and welcome back to al al jazerra america, i am jonathan betz with the headlines this half hour. vice president joe biden will lead the u.s. delegation for the memorial service for ariel sharon he should died this morning after eight years nay coma, he was 85 years old, he's pictured to be given a military funeral at his family farm on monday. 300,000 people are still without clean drinking water due to the chemical spill in charleston. residents have been lining found days to get bottled water provided by team actual 12 years to the day since the first detainee as received to the guantanamo bay prison in cuba. president george w. bush set it up after 9/11. but president obama prom toys close it has yet to be fulfilled. here is more.

>> reporter: protesters marched in washington, d.c. saturday demanding the closure of guantanamo bay. 12 years after the first prisoners arrived. >> closing guantanamo is not the only issue, we have to insure that indefinite detention does not continue. >> reporter: over the past 12 years more than 750 men have been held at the prison, but fewer than 10 of them have been convicted and sentenced. about 150 are still there with more than 60 cleared for release. one of them is ma huh mud mujahid, the u.s. says he was a body guard for osama bin laden and took part in military training in afghanistan, he has been impressed for more than 10 years. but on thursday, a u.s. government review panel agreed to release him. take he was no longer a significant threat to the u.s. he's now eligible for transfer from gitmo, if a country will accept him. the decision is is the first in a series of review raergz by thn honester to speed up closing the prison, more than five years

after he promised to close get know. president obama signed a defense bill including a provision to make it easier for the pentagon to transfer low-threat detainees to other countries a long process because of the difficulty in finding nations willing to accept them. in the meantime, even the former chief prosecutor at gitmo says the nation's reputation is suffering. >> guantanmo has been a black eye to us, with our allies and with our adversaries. >> reporter: but critics say newly-free detainees are likely to turn to terrorism and releasing them would make the u.s. look weak. >> the governor of individual was sworn in today. former chairman of the democratic herriman is known as a friends of bill and hillary clinton. after his swearing in he signed four executive orders, including one which bans discrimination in the state government, based on sexual orientation.

well, on the heels of the target security breach, now luxury retailer nieman marcus says it was also hacked. raelyn johnson has more on that. >> reporter: nieman marcus confirms that thieves broke in to its computer system and took card information from customers who had shopped in neiman marcus stores, he retailer said a credit card processor told them in mid december that card numbers have been used for unauthorized purchases and a foreign i can firm confirmed the breach on january 1st. but a neiman marcus spokesman says they do not know the cause, size, or duration of the breach. this comes off target admitted their breach was far larger than thought it. could affect more than 100 million people. one out of every three americans and target confirms that's data theft includes people who shopped this target stores before the holiday season. that is contrary to the company's initial statement that his only people who had shopped

in target is stores from december 27th 2 were affected. general motors is as far as today recall new pickup trucks, the 2147 lay silve silverado anc sierra models. eight fires reported so far. all during extremely cold weather. the company is warning customers not to leviedalling trucks unattended. new jersey law makesser want more information wants more information about the bridge. they are calling a special session to investigation the lane closures that led to four days of huge traffic jams. early irrelevant a asked math arco from politicing if this will kill a chance for chris christie on for president bid in 2016. >> that certainly the prism that everything is looking for.

it's reaches his close are inner circle with the release. documents the other day. the governor has said that he had no knowledge of this. but democratic lawmakers in the state house are trying to pick at it examine get it closer to governor. you know, and at this point, he's been so adamant that he has no knowledge of it, you know, if it does get any clos closer it's going to be pretty damning to him, especially when he looks to 2016 on a national stage and how something like this plays out to voters across the country. >> turning now overseas, egypt's army chief gave his clearest sign yesterday he may run for president it said it must come from a request from the people and a mandate from the army. but the country remains deeply divided. >> reporter: defense minister, leading member of the interim government and perhaps soon

egypt's next president. general abdel fatah sisi has been a driving force in the military for many years, it was he who greeted mohamed morsi at his country's first democratically elected president in the summer of 2012 and it was he, again, who deposed morsi the following summer. >> there is no question that he is the post powerful individual in egypt right now. and i think most egyptians realize that although there is a prime minister and an interim president, he is not only the most popular figure, but the most powerful. i think it would certainly further strengthen the relations between the gulf counter revolutionary forces of saudi arabia, the united arab emirates and could you quiet and he just a minute. >> reporter: several of those states have given large amounts of money to egypt since morsi we goesed in hard to help with their ailing economy. and some believe that things have begun to improve. shares in the cairo stock market have gone up by almost 50% since

late june last year. on the social front, too, the curfew and state of emergency have ended. replaced with tough protest laws and sweeping powers for the police. elements of the egypt media run flattering articles about sisi and in places he seems to have a consult following. but his opponentses are equally vociferous. this was a protest by supporters of the anti-coup a lines on friday. they believe sisi and the military led a coupe against the democratic government. they blame him for the killings of hundreds of people when the military ended mass sit-in protests last august. >> i don't recognize his contusion, it's not. this is a mob controlling the country and trying to pass anything to cover up the coup. >> reporter: on the international stage, sisi and

the interim government have tried to woo old allies, this was a visit by the russian foreign and defense ministers to cairo in november. but it is the immaterial next rereferendum on the contusion which will decide if he runs for president. dominic kane, al jazerra. in turkey a brawl broke out between high-ranking government officials members of apartment came to glow blows. look blows khro*esly you can see onclosely you can seeone membere and tried to hit another member on the face. the fight broke out after a representative present aid petition that was not allowed to -- and was not allowed to spring. the iraqi army has continued its bombardment of fallujah trying to force out fighters loyal to or kaoeud a international observers are

warning the food and fuel shortages in the city, done ends have died in the past two weeks, the prime minister has called for national unity. more revelations from roberts guys gates. he said the obama administration tried to out of the president karzai four years ago, jane ferguson has her on that. >> reporter: it was an accusation offense dismiss the as paranoia, during his reelection campaign in 2009, afghan president hamid karzai accused the u.s. of trying get rid of him. >> there were a lot of stories in the british and american media of the plans in washington and in london to bring a change in to the structure of develop nance in afghanistan to weaken the central government of afghanistan and to go to the strong men that they like in afghanistan and to put resources to afghanistan. >> reporter: now excerpts from then u.s. defense secretary robert gate's new book say that was true.

gates writes angrily are prem's special envoy at the time richard holbrook''s attempts as what he calls a push, saying they extended support to many of karzai as challengers. presidential palace's deputy spokesperson has reacted with an i told you so. >> what secretary gates has revealed in his book further proves the righteousness of president karzai's claims that there were deliberate efforts to disregard and to manipulate the very genuine votes of the afghan people. >> reporter: but karzai was also accused of foul play at the time. evidence of a*f a campaign to rig the vote in his favor was widely reported. new allegations of interference by the obama administration could further discredit the election. leaving the afghan people unsure of who to trust. >> this don't believe anybody anymore. the people of afghanistan have

been misled so many times by so many players, that sometimes they have lost -- at times they don't have the self-confidence that is sufficient for a nation to act on in their own interest. and it's very dangerous that we have depleted a nation from itself confidence. >> reporter: revelations of possible u.s. interference in the last presidential elections here, come just a few months before afghans go to the polls to vote for next leader. president karzai has warned peteedly against foreign manipulation, a warning which now seems to hold more weight. jane ferguson, al jazerra, ca pull afghanistan. the family of a young boy who died stopping a suicide bomber in pakistan will receive his country's highest medal of an on the prime minister's office says his family will receive the star of bravery. the 15-year-old chase aid

suicide bomber outside his school's gates on monday. but he was killed when the bomber debt maded his vest. more than 200 of his classmates were insides that school. the new interrupt president of the central africa arrived to his country today. he will take charge until a new president is elected the former president, stepped down yesterday after intense international pressure to resign. since he took office last mont month -- march, nearly a million people have been displaced by violence between christian and muslim militias. south sudan says it will not release nearly a dozen captured rebel leaders it's the latest setback in order to reach a peace deal between war factions. >> reporter: there are diplomatic effort happening to try to find the solution to the crisis here in south sudan, i am joined by the president secretary for the president.

the u.n. secretary ban ki-moon has urged south sudan to release all those who have been arrested for planning a coup. what is the government's position. >> if the president comes in and releases those who were perpetrators of the crime, that is punishable, with prison, the president will be violating the contusion. and so -- and the members of the government have expressed, the fact that they will not accept this guy to be the -- guys to be released without trial. so they are to go on. but this he agree that the process, the legal process should be expedited so that the legal -- you know, so that these people are actually taken to the court of law and will be allowed to defend themselves. >> reporter: is the government concerned sanctions could be imposed on the country to pet pressure to release these did he findetainees.

>> we are a soften country and we want the international community to understand the position of the government. the attempted coup happened on the 16 account of december. if in any country something like that happened the perpetrators are taken to a court of law. i don't know why the international community will not understand our position in these regards. >> reporter: thank you very much. >> thank you so much. >> reporter: there is still fighting going on in the capital state. we have told the army has sent in reinforcements to try to recapture that town from rebels a lot of people here in south sudan hoping peace talks happening in ethiopia come to a speedy and peaceful conclusion. still ahead. players getting sacked by mother nature on the gridiron, more on the wind storm that blew through seattle ahead. plus outrage in texas over an auction for the right to kill an endangered black rhino.

i'm phil tores. coming up this week on techknow. techknow's shini somara goes straight into the storm. winds of 150 miles per hour. but this twister is created in the lab. >> i'm at the national wind institute where they can actually recreate a tornado. >> now science and technology take on mother nature. >> who wins? >> it's completely fine. >> techknow. sunday 7:30 eastern on al jazeera america. >> a jazeera america is the only news channel that brings you

live news at the top of every hour >> here are the headlines at this hour breaking news... sports... business... weather... live news...every hour, on the hour only on al jazeera america in the northwest storms had a serious impact on one of today's nfl playoff games. high winds knocked outpours for 10s of thousands of customer for washington state so many fans couldn't watch the games because of the power outages. fans endures the wind and rain, gusts reached more than 50 miles an hour. rebecca that's your home down out there. a lot of people were not happen by that storm. >> meteorologist: it was hard to stay out and watch game when the within wag slamming your face with all the raindrops it was a wet, windy day not only for the north west but for parts of the northeast. now, as we look at our wind gusts, right now we are seeing them about 22 miles per hour. for seattle at the airport. 18 miles per hour winds for new

york at central park where we still have gusty winds arndt great lakes but also stretching farther eastward, powerful winds are making an eastward track. all the way over in to montana through the first part of your sunday. now, these wind gusts, the strongest ones most definitely up in the higher elevations and the they will be about 60 to 70 miles an hour. tough going if you are in the mountains, in fact we have a blizzard warning in central idaho and this is impacting places around sun valley where the snow is coming down so heavily, in fact, we expect just in the washington, north oregon cascades tonight to get a foot of snow. in to the day tomorrow another foot of snow on top of that. so looking at wind gusts roo the now. zooming in closer, i wanted to show you how a wide view of the u.s. doesn't tell the whole story of what's going on locally. now, the windstorm created here was because of the mountains and the water. so as the wind interacted with

the mountains and water, that's what allowed the wind to channel through the valleys and cause some powerful gusts. in fact, we had a 56 miles per hour gust. and we had a 60 miles per hour gust in great falls, montana. so we are seeing the wind slowly ease a little bit here to the west. but here are some of the peak gust with his the island 60 miles an hour. even farther southwest washington 65 miles per hour. short land also had some powerful gusts and some power outages now you can see that snow moving up in to the mountains and that is where its coming down very heavily. white pass, that know is coming down for you, pack the chains, only 47% of your snowpack so far this year, though. we are going to continue with the showers and snow in the mountains here no for the west. but jessica and jonathan, we are expect to go see the wind gusts pick up again tomorrow but not quite as strong as with what we had during the seahawk-saints

game. >> those are powerful numbers there. >> and i think they were watching your forecast bought is coaches once they saw the wind and the rain playing havoc, they started to kind of change the game plans a little bit. let me tell you about that. >> oh, jaw. >> forget about airing all ought the ball, of course in, these games, the nfl teams actually preparing for these games went to the ground attack and that meant, of course, the starring role in these games went to the running backs. starting in the afc game that just finished up a bit ago, this in fashio fox borrow in coats nr for lagarrette blount sen setoguchi a franchise playoff record for four touchdowns his longest being a 73 yarder and the pats pound the colts 43-22 they will take on the winner of the chargers-broncos game for the afc championship game? denver. and the saints having trouble marching in it owe seattle where you saw the video earlier of the

rain and wind. seattle used to the dreary weather so marshon lynch does the working on. he racked up a franchise post season record for seattle with 140 yards to go along with two touchdowns on the day, and seattle's defense, well, they were fantastic, they kept drew brees and the saints out of the end zone until the fourth quarter in this one, the seahawks beat the saints 23-15, they will host the winner of the 49ers-panthers game in the nfl championship game next sunday. so here say look at how the divisional playoffs game for tomorrow will round out. in nfc being niners beating the panthers, and carolina that is at 1:00 p.m. and the chargers travel to go denver, they are going to take on the broncos in the afc game. kickoff for that one is 4:40 p.m. so weather always a factor in these, but as you can see people find a way to manage, they manage the conditions. >> no excuses without question. >> exactly. >> thanks, jessica. >> you bet. ahead on al jazerra america from chic to shunned how american cigarette smokers

became shamed of their habit. outcry over a black rhino hunting permit auctioned off as a fundraiser. al jazeera america.

smoke cigarettes without stirring up any sort of controversy. no years smoking was normal in restaurant and even in

hospitals. a look at why that has changed. >> reporter: david la salle has nothing to be a shame of, he owns a successful company in chicago. he can't kick the smoking habit or the criticism of his familiar. >> i ashamed. are you still smoking? no, mom, i am not. gave it up. so i don't have to hear it. you know. >> reporter: 50 years ago, when the surgeon general issue the first warning on smoking, you could light up just about anywhere, even inside hospitals, but there is no doubt smoking rates have dropped as a result of the research that followed that report in 1964. back then, smoking was found to be the cause of one type of cancer, now there are 14 types of cancer. and back then, 42% of american adults smoked. by 2011, just 19% did. but the decrease doesn't just come from health warnings anti-smoking laws over the years have also help shame smoke nurse to quitting. >> it's almost embarrassing

sometimes that you smoke. >> reporter: she is so used to feeling shunned that everybody sets bothered my smokers. >> i think a lot of smokers are very, very rude. very rude smoke h, he you know putting butts on the street and and you like that, i would never do that. but even that it under attack. start on the ground january 1st it became illegal in illinois to toss a butt onto the ground. it's a misdemeanor now. do you think that will some day make you say, okay, i give up? >> no, it's going to be the price. i was seeing how much i was saving every night on my tip i was like how do i have $180, so, i didn't buy $13 worse of cigarettes today. >> reporter: smoking was banned in illinois bars at the start of 2008, selling cigarettes in bars remained legal. but even that is coming to an end in the chicago area. cigarette vendor that comes in business has been lower as ever, down year after year after year. and now this is the real nail in the coffin. they are just stripping my license and he won't -- he has to take his machine out. you no he, after being here for

20 years. >> reporter: dr. mark says he doesn't try to shame his patients but he's not afraid to air kasami irrelevant them to tell them they are not just tutoring hair health but their loved ones through second half smoke. >> i think a lot of patients feel the shame. they are they recognize i let my family down, my doctor down, whatever. that must are part of the why the bans work the stick that gets reinforced. >> reporter: the goal of the surgeon general's report won't ever be fully realized the disappearance of smoking it's the laws that follow that continues to make it fade. al jazerra, chicago. >> not easy to get a smoke these days. well, just moment ago a hunting club in dallas auctions on of a permit to kill an endanger rhinoceros in africa it went for $350,000. the event has sparked huge outrage among animal rights activactivists. here is more. >> reporter: space signed the dallas convention center was at

a premium as an he want mated 45,000 hunting en thought i don't haves were here to attend the convention. >> this is our single fundraiser of the year that we have. our single biggest fundraiser. >> reporter: jewelry, rival rife rifles and furs were up for purchase, this time the big auction idea a permit. >> trophy hunting putting animal on his display, that's completely wrong to do. >> reporter: angela and others say the auction was inhumane. >> we need every single one of these animals. not even one to be taken out. >> reporter: the dallas safari club says all the proceeds from the sale of the permit will go towards saving the species. >> a lot of people think that wildlife just exists out there. it just takes care of itself. it doesn't. it's a managed wildlife. it costs money, namibia is a small country, they have two and a half million people and not ales of excess money, they need money for their wildlife department to manage the wildlife and help protect and

increase the population of black rhino. >> reporter: he was able to increase leaders to allow the sale of permit outside the country because of the amount of money that he would be bringing back in to the country. >> this is actually the first time this permit has ever been auctioned off in the united states. >> reporter: protesters say the dallas safaris club shut just give money correctly instead of selling a a license to kill think wayne head of humane saturday on united states made the point on al jazerra america tonight. >> the idea of linking a trough i hunter exercise with conservation may make sense to folks who are involved with trophy hunting, but i don't think it makes sense in the grand scheme of things. >> reporter: the safari club says the rhino that will be killed is past breeding age and has become aggressive and threatening to other wildlife. other critics say the auction tells the word that an american will pay anything to kill their species. brandon, al jazerra, dallas. >> controversial move there. that's our show tonight, i am jonathan betz, thank for being with us, i'll see you tomorrow.

headlines are after this quick break. quote do al jazerra, i am jonathan betz with tonight's headlines. vice president joe biden will lead the u.s. delegations memorial serve face ariel sharon, the former people are prime minister died this year after eight years any comb a he was 85 years old, he's expected to be given a military funeral at his family farm on monday. in west virginia, 300,000 people are still without clean drinking water due to the chemical spill? charleston, residents have been lining up to get bottled waiter provided other by fema. idaho announced it will assume control over its only privatized prison after the prison was involved in multiple lawsuits and allegations of contract fraud.