>> governor under fire. new alleges against new jersey's chris christie. one mayor saying he withheld hurricane sandy relief funds in retaliation. >> syrian oppositions willing to attend talks, but could it be the end of a bloody civil war. >> gunfight - russian's military battling groups planning to attack the winter olympics. >> we have not been consuming the water in the house because it didn't taste or smell right. >> to drink or not to drink. tests say the water is safe. people that live near the chemical spill in west virginia are not so convinced.

>> welcome to al jazeera america. i'm morgan radford live from new york city. we begin with breaking news in pakistan. a deadly attack on the pakistani military. 50 troops have been killed by a bomb blast north-west of country. it happened in the last two hours. we'll bring you more. >> the hits keep coming from chris christie. top-ranking members accused of playing politics with sandy relief money. hoboken's mayor, say funds were withhold because she wouldn't back a development project. a company said to be connected with chris christie.

>> the democratic mayor dawn zimmer made the bombshell allegations on n.b.c. >> the lieutenant governor came to hoboken and says, "i know it's not right and it should not be connected, and if you tell anyone, i'll deny it." >> 80% of hoboken was flooded after superstorm sandy. >> this is the kind of distraction that chris christie wanted to avoid. he's in florida campaigning for chris scott and testing the waters for a possible presidential run in 2016. it follows the scandal over the george washington bridge, where lawmakers issued 20 subpoenas to find out if traffic jams were in retaliation for a mayor that refused to enforce chris christie. >> more than 100,000 people died sips the war in syria began.

we have a report where the rebel wellition met. >> it was a vote that ripped the syrian national coalition apart. members pulled out, more resigned after. after days of discussion, the umbrella body voted yes to going to switzerland to take part in talks with a delegation from the assad regime. after the vote the president of the coalition addressed the syrian people. >> translation: we travelled a hard road and you made sacrifices for your freed om. you are intending to end the suffering that the regime imposed on you >> because the decision was divisive discussion and consultation ran overnight including members of rebel groups fighting inside syria.

without the endorsement there was no confidence that the coalition could deliver on anything. the same groups want to be in the unnamed delegation going to switzerland. >> there has to be representatives within the team. we have to discuss what is the role, but they would like to be hart of the consultation. >> the green light from the fighting groups came as a surprise. >> none of this was enough to bring back 44 members who withdrew from the syrian national coalition, because they didn't think the agreements in geneva i had backing. for them, unless geneva ii brought about a transitional government. it wasn't worth tending. >> who will represent the government is supposed to be decided in 24 hours. they face directly or indirectly

a high-level team, and barely recognises the existence of an opposition at all. >> international leaders are praising the syrian national wellition for agreeing to attend the peace talks. it was called a courageous move. some, like former policy advisors say they are skeptical whether the negotiations will work. >> number one condition that the rebel groups wanted was an agreement on a transition that would remove assad from power. that's the sticking point for a couple of years, that the wemp powers led by the united states spisted that bashar al-assad must go. it's unrealistic. how can you hold talks when the number one preconditions must abolish itself. >> port of it is destroying chemical weapons. the process has been slowed by

security concerns because it includes moving from syria to italy. they would be taken out to sea to be destroyed and the group overseeing it is confident that the june deadline will be met. >> anti-government protests in turkey turned violence. crowds hurled fire works at police. officers responded with tear gas and water canons. hundreds occupied the streets of angaria protesting a bill that they say amounts to censorship of the internet. the legislation gives the government the authority to give any or all internet users being banned for up to two years. >> soldiers battling rebel fighters in dagestan province.

several rebels were killed and the fighters may belong to a group behind a car bomb attack, which killed nine on friday. russia cracked down on rebel groups in the run-up to the winter olympic games in sochi. >> egypt's military backed government says they've been validated by the people. 98% of vetters approved a -- voters approved a new constitution. >> egypt's draft constitution is passed. the commission says the document got overwhelming support. the total number of voters is 20,613,677. the voter tonne out is 38.6% of the population. the yes vote 98.1%. 1.9% said no.

this is a hirer voter turn out. the military-backed interim government says the people's support for overthrowing president mohamed morsi in july. now that the government got the yes vote, the next step is to set a date for more elections. >> the anti-coup alliance. including the muslim brotherhood described the vote as a sham. the group hailed the historic boycott by the egyptian people, including the youth, indicating that a majority of the people rejected the coup. different groups are calling on supporters to increase the process to end the coup despite the crackdown on dissent. egypt is facing tough times and analysts say it's unlikely to change soon. >> i think we have veterans.

when military coups against officials take place, you are faced with four possibly outcomes. military dictatorship with an if as illion facade -- civilian facade, or persistent civil unrevved. the plan is to legitimate what happened on july 3rd by a constitution or presidential election. they wished to happen on hosni mubarak, and they never had strong guidance. >> egypt is divided and struggling to restore stability. next week marks three years since a popular resolution removed hosni mubarak from power. as most egyptians mark that occasion, the only thing that is certain is more elections. >> three al jazeera journalists

are detained in egypt. form , baher mohamed, and peter greste, have been held since november 29th, accused of spreading lies harmful to state security and joining a terror. >> group. al jazeera demands their release. >> two others are imprisoned for five months. abdullah al-shami is a reporter, and mohammed badr is a cameraman. >> bone dry. they are waiting for rain in california. now how the drought may impact the wine industry for years to come. something smells. people in west virginia are told the water is safe to drink, but not everyone is ready to drink up.

>> the ukrainian president has taken a stand against demonstrators, he is making new laws banning protests, including

unauthorised tents, stages. it comes amid a rally in kiev planned for sunday. demonstrators are angry that viktor yanukovych walked away from a trade deal with e.u., in favour of closerer economic ties with russia. >> hundreds are returning home now that firefighters are getting hold of a fire in the suburbs of california. a campfire has been planned due to drought and santa ana winds. 1700 acres burnt. many have evacuate. five homes have been destroyed. one of the force fires led the governor jerry brown to call for a state of emergency, leading to to ask for aid and bringing in water. napper valley, the heart of california's wine country needed help. >> wine makers are not panicking

but are watching the drought closely. to give you an idea of how serious the situation is, usually there would be green rolling hills, but all we see is brown. there should be grass up to my hips. we had a chance to speak to the vineyard owner. he tried to take a positive spin on the drought. >> if february and march - we get a typical normal rain fall for the rest of the winter, and we started out the growing season spring break with a wet soil profile, the vines will grow, start the season off, and grow well. and do their normal thing. so, you know, i feel like we'll be okay. >> it's not about what is happening now. but what might happen in the future. after all the vines are in a dore nant stage, what people are worried about is the near

future. we are halveway through the usual rainy season, and they expect the water to collect in reservoirs and wells. if there's no water in the reservoirs or wells, there'll be no water in july, august and september, when wine makers irrigate the vineyards. that's when they should panic, if there's no water and the drought continues. >> calvan wine accounts for 60% of wine sales, bringing in there 22 million. a different water problem remains in west virginia. hundreds of thousands is have been given the toek drink their without. but people are confused and worried. >> you can see over my shoulder the tanks holding the chemicals from freedom industries. what happened affected 300,000 and the water supply in west virginia. we spent most of saturday talking to residents about their

concerns, and did independent testing on the water. here is what we found out. it's been a week since 7500 gallons of toxic chemicals used to clean coal spilled into the elk river. many residents are concerned as to whether their water is safe. >> inside the cooler are testing materials for the water in this woman's house. how long will it take to get the results back. >> five to seven business days. >> jennifer youse is nine moths pregnant. >> we haven't consumed the water in the house. it didn't taste or smell right. >> she and her family are not drinking the water. after the center for disease control issued the warning on wednesday, she was confused. >> we got the thumbs up that the water was safe on monday night.

so for 48 hours to go by, and knowing that the public is consuming the water, it's really concerning. >> with little data or scientific study on the chemical, it's not clear how it could impact people's health. and because the abundance of caution recommended al jazeera hired an environmental consulting company to take water samples from jennifer's home. mark is from downstream strategies taking samples from the home we were in and the river. he's taking water surface samples. they'll test them for the mix of chemicals that went into the river system, and we'll have results next week. >> according to federal environmental data, chemical and waste from the coal industry tainted waterways and groundwater supplies in west

virginia. many doctors were concerned and want testing to condition. >> in the case of pregnant women, we don't know the effects on unborn children. it's a developing foetus and we shouldn't take chances. >> the theme of environmental disasters reached a boiling point. >> no one has jurisdiction. what needs to happen is for overarching leggs it make sure that these companies aren't responsible for policing themselves. they are not. if you don't have to, you won't. if there are no speed limits, i'll drive as fast as i can in my vehicles. >> inspectors discovered that freedom industries the company blamed for the disaster had not taken action to stop the leak or report to authorities. as it turns out, there are virtually no regulation in

relation to maintenance inspection of the storage tanks. >> the smell of liquorice, the candy smell is prevalent here on the saturday as is an itch in my high, which a lot of emergency rooms and doctors say is one of the problems, one of the symptoms that people are coming in and complaining about. we are on the story and keep reporting. >> freedom industries filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy, putting any lawsuit on homed. the company has not paid faxes from 2000 to 2008 and owes nearly 2.5 million to the government. >> it's said it knows its customers it will ship customers to them before they order. it will look at orders, web searches, wish lists, and launch anticipatory shipping. amazon says it may give discounts. >> teaching kids about money in

one of the world's poorest countries. >> ask someone to look after my money. never give my money away. >> how a bank is giving children in bangladesh a fighting chance at saving money.

>> all the hype and hoopla surrounding peyton manning and tom brady, and right fully so, because they are two living legends. sunday's game will be the 15th meeting. tom brady has the edge in victories with 10 peyton manning has gone for more yards. in three play-offs peyton manning has six interceptions. the quarterbacks have a lot of respect for one another. >> the one thing about tom is his consistency.

i feel like he's a better player each year than he was the year before. that, to me, speaks to his work ethics in the off season, his refusal to me complacent or satisfied. >> he's a great player. they have a great team and one of the best offensive groups in history. we'll have to score, because that's what they do best. they outscore you, quickly, and we know what it means for our offense. >> this is the fourth meeting in the play-offs. brady has a 2-1 edge. the good news for peyton manning the home team has won every ball game. sunny skies. temperatures at 60 degrees. jessica taff has more on the nfc championship. >> plenty of fireworks.

the division rivals know each other well. the atmosphere will be electric. this is not a place for colin or company, where they have fared well. the last two times san francisco played here, they were outscored 71-16. with a ticket to the super bowl on the line, throw out all the stats. >> we have not played well when we went up there. they have a good defense. we have to go out and execute. >> it's the most important time in terms of playing football. all other things - that's what we have been doing, focussing on the opportunity that we have now. yesterday has gone. today is all we have right now. tomorrow is not here yet. our biggest thing is focussing on the moment and the game that we have, and to win the championship would mean a lot to the organization. i want to win, i hate losing. >> the seahawks won six straight

play-offs, and plan to use the 12th man to get back to the super bowl for the first time since 2005. >> a what will op of winter weather is pounding the north-west. >> significant mountain snow for the pacific north-west not just tonight, but through the sunday time frame and into monday. monday the snow will track into a clipper system out of canada, to parts of the northern plains. let's talk about the storm we had saturday night. the snow was piling up. sunday morning, snow on the road. finally getting the snow. thanks to an area of low pressure tracking in the right spot. we had wind gusts up to 60 miles per hour in addition to the snow and the rain coming down. as we discussed the wind, they are easing up in parts of the west side of the pacific north-west.

they are increasing as we head to idaho, and montana and utah. strong gusty winds, along with the mountain snow. now, you can see we are getting a significant amount of rainfall and snow. in 24 hours we had an entry report for seattle, but more increasing amounts as we go off to the east. over two inches of rain in the south-east. to the north-east temperatures of 5-6 degrees away from record highs. saturday brought ice jams, causing a lot of flooding at the frozen ground. we have flood warnings, advisories. this will continue through the early part of the day. gradually things will train off as you warm up through main. temperatures will start out on the cool side. so denver at 19 to start your morning. 35 for new york. temperatures will warm, comfort alt over all.

49 for seattle, more mountain snow and into the rockies we'll have the snow into northern utah. keep in maintained avalanche danger. 47 for new york. a little cool down in the north-east. we'll have flurries around the great lakes, along with gusty winds. >> dakar, the capital of bangladesh sees hundreds of thousands of children living on the streets, struggling to make a living. those that find work find it hard to build a future. a bank is giving them a chance by providing a safe place to put their earnings. >> they are orphans, they are homeless and live by their wits. bank's disadvantaged children live by scraping a living on a daily basis. they can't save what money is left from food as it gets stolen. many spend it on drugs and alcohol, until now. >> in the dusty backstreets an

informal bank has been set up allowing children to deposit their money and withdraw when they warrant. 14-year-old mohammed earns $2 a day selling newspapers. using the bank he saved $15. he eventually wants to start a computer business and says the bank enabled him to protect his earnings. >> translation: i can't trust anyone. if i ask someone to look after my money, i can't do this. i need it with me, never giving my money away. >> the local charity which set up the bank doesn't make a profit or pay interest. it gives children deposit and withdrawal books and hopes to expand the scheme. >> translation: by saving money, hopefully they can making is of their lives. >> they want the scheme recognised as part of the banking system. banking executives say it's

impossible for children without parent or guardians to open accounts, rules will need to be changed. >> we have to accept the ngos or others, to have guardians, so they can have a bank account. >> so far 1,000 or so children are involved in the scheme. the rest of them survive day to day with little hope of improving their life. if the scheme takes off many may have a future to look forward to. >> we are following breaking news it thailand where four have been injured in an explosion during an anti-government protest. thousands marked through bangkok calling or the resignation of the minister. they were being asked to settle things before the military is involved. >> and that will do it for it

edition of al jazeera america. i'm morgan radford, thanks for watching. new rules that may mean you have to pay for the quickest ride on "the inside story." >> hello. i am ray sworees. put a plug in a wall socket. an e licktricity powers an appliance. it's the same juice applied to your neighbors in maxes or shacks. head into a hotel lobby, people who stay more often have their own check-in line, get a different level of ser a